Jonathan Woodgate has come back down to earth following two years among the Galacticos in Madrid but the defender could not be happier.
Woodgate has swapped the salubrious surroundings of Real Madrid for the more humble setting of hometown club Middlesbrough where his cheery disposition owes much to the fact that years of fitness problems appear to be over.
"I enjoyed my time in Spain but it was unfulfilled because of injury and when I look back I think `what a nightmare -- if only I had stayed fit over there'," Woodgate said in an interview with Reuters.
"It was a big chance. It's not gone yet but those two years if I'd stayed fit and played regularly then maybe I would have helped the club win some trophies. That's a chapter of my life that is unfulfilled. But you never know."
"Obviously, the thought of maybe teaming up with Fabio Cannavaro in the heart of the Real defence does cross my mind but so does the thought of what I could build at Middlesbrough as well," said Woodgate, who is on loan to the Premier League club for a year.
"You could build something big at this club with the manager we've got here (Gareth Southgate) and with the backing of the chairman (Steve Gibson). Sometimes it's better to start building something from scratch rather than going into a club with a massive history and tradition which is almost guaranteed success."
"I can see both sides of the coin. You can go to Madrid and be guaranteed Champions League football every year and be up in the upper reaches of the league every season and winning Spanish cups and stuff but on the other hand... At Boro you're not but you can build something that would eventually win things."
The 27-year-old Englishman made only 12 appearances for Real, following a 13.4-million-pound ($26.6-million) move from Newcastle in August 2004, due to a thigh injury but has played 19 matches in the Premier League since Fabio Capello allowed him to join Boro on loan last August.
"I have had to try to prove myself all over again after the injury troubles and I'm really happy that I'm playing games regularly," he added.
"Touch wood, I would like to think that my fitness problems are behind me now. I am playing consistently and I've only missed two league games since I arrived here which was just down to minor knocks. I've been working hard and things are going well."
"There's no secret to my change in fortune, it is down to a change in treatments. I came over to England to see a physio called Dave Hancock at Leeds doing a lot of core work to tackle most of your problems which tend to come from your back. If you get your back right then your legs will follow suit. The physios here and the personal trainer took that on board and I'm working hard every day."
"It's a brilliant feeling playing for your hometown club and it's great to be playing for the club I supported as a boy. It was an ambition to do it. I was a ball boy at Ayresome Park and I used to go to the Riverside to watch them play."
Mid-table Middlesbrough have agreed an undisclosed fee with Real for an option to turn the move into a permanent one later this year but Woodgate feels his long-term future is unclear.
"When I arrived I said I'm here for a season and then I'll see what happens. No one knows what is happening yet," added the one-time Leeds centre-half. "I've still got a year on my contract at Madrid after this season."
"To be honest I don't really know what I'm going to do at the moment. I'm happy to be playing here. I'm ambitious in the way that I want to win trophies and stuff but we'll just see what happens at the end of this season."
"There's certainly no point being worried about it. Ultimately, if I'm playing good football it will sort itself out."
Woodgate could get an opportunity to show Capello what he is missing when England take on Spain in a friendly at Old Trafford on Feb. 7 -- if he is given an international recall by coach Steve McClaren following an absence of almost three years.
He says, though, that he is not driven on by the prospect of adding to his collection of five England caps.
"Winning a place back into the England squad isn't really something that spurs me on," Woodgate said. "To be honest, I'm just concentrating on playing regularly for Middlesbrough. I've always said if I play for England I do and if I don't then so be it. It's out of my hands. If I can play well then it's up to Steve McClaren to decide. It's not driving me on -- playing for Boro every week is."
"I feel ready. I've played games and if I am selected I am selected and if not I'm not going to lose sleep over it. Every English player would fancy being in the Spain squad and I'm no different. Obviously, if I'm in the squad it would be great but at the end of the day England is a bonus for me."