Monterrey midfielder Sergio Canales has explained leaving Real Betis.

Canales left for LigaMX earlier this season.

He told Marca: "I was very happy at Betis, but in Mexico I'm living an incredible experience. I take it as a gift to have come here. There aren't many Spanish players, I didn't know the environment well, but now I'm very happy.

"I got to know a beautiful city, super affectionate, super welcoming people and then a great club. A team like Monterrey that aspires to everything and with a lot desire to win, to compete and to continue to grow. I'm enjoying everything to the fullest."

Canales continued: "I'm happy. So I'm living a gift, an incredible experience, which I think will undoubtedly be one of the best I've had in my career: both on a professional level, both to get out of the comfort zone a little, and to go a place I didn't know. I owe a lot to Betis, both to them and to all the teams I played for. I am very grateful to my former clubs for how they treated me and made me grow, Betis in particular.

"I felt that before the end of the season it was time to leave. In life you have to do things one hundred percent, not only with the attitude I will always have, but in every way. And I believed that the time had come to stop so that I could continue to give everything that I had to give to Betis.

"It was the most honest thing of me, and if you look back, the truth is that I had everything there. If I look back, I had everything and I was super happy. But sometimes you have to make these kinds of decisions and I needed to be honest, not only with myself, but also with a club, with a fan who has given me so much."