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Kompany claims he could have left City

Vincent Kompany is eyeing more silverware © Getty Images

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Manchester City skipper Vincent Kompany has revealed he turned down other clubs prior to signing a bumper new deal with the Premier League champions.

Kompany penned a six-year contract extension with City last week, keeping the defender at the reigning champions of England until 2018. The Belgium international, who was reportedly targeted by Real Madrid and Barcelona earlier this summer, wants to follow last season's achievement with continued success until his deal expires.

"I've signed a six-year deal, so there are six possible titles within those years," said Kompany. "So you know what? I want to get them all. It probably won't happen, but we'll see in six years' time. I'll try everything for that.

"I'm not going to give names, but the opportunity was there for me to start negotiating with other clubs. It's only normal when you win the Premier League - or have a couple of good seasons - that you get interest at the end of the season.

"But I wanted to stay at City and I think the six-year deal is a statement of my ambitions at the club. I've had a good spell here and it would have been easy to play clubs against each other, but it wasn't my intention.

"When I joined City four years ago, I came a month before the takeover. When that happened, without knowing it, their [Abu Dhabi] project became mine as well. So I do have ties to the project, and also to the fans and the city, which makes it very exciting for me to stay at the club for a long period."

The defender admits winning the Premier League became an obsession for him as he watched rivals Manchester United claim silverware.

"Before I won the league, I didn't think I could win it so I prepared twice as much as others and did everything to win it," said Kompany. "It was an obsession for us and myself, so I just hope we keep that obsession.

"You can walk around thinking you're a winner, but if you don't train like a winner or do everything in your life to maintain being a winner, it just stops there.

"So every day of my life I'm still obsessed by this moment, by the victory at the end of the season [to win the title]. It's what I want to have again."

Kompany flew home early from City's pre-season tour of Asia after Saturday's 2-0 win over Arsenal with a calf injury. The 26-year-old is expected to recover in time for the start of the Premier League campaign, and he expects the likes of United to make a fierce challenge for the title.

Speaking after a visit to the SOS Children's Village Beijing, Kompany said: "It's clear we have a competition on our hands. You can clearly see all the other teams have reacted to what happened last season and come out stronger.

"But I think we'll come out stronger too because we're one season further down the line in terms of playing together. That was always our problem, the fact that we hadn't gelled over a long period of time.

"But you can see now that we know each other better on the pitch now and that will be our competitive advantage for next season."

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