Tyrhys Dolan has shed more light on his summer as a free agent and why Espanyol was the right place to continue his career.
The winger was a key member of the Rovers squad last season but departed Ewood Park at the end of his contract.
Dolan took some time to decide his next move before penning a three-year deal with the La Liga outfit, getting his first taste of football abroad.
"Being a free agent, you're going to get quite a few offers, which I did. But when the Espanyol offer got brought to me, that was something that I felt like I needed to take that next step into my career,” he told The Mirror.
"La Liga is obviously one of the best leagues in the world and for me, it's a real challenge, one that I wanted to take.
“It's stepping out of my comfort zone. I think that's when you see players make those sacrifices and go on and test themselves, it brings out the best of them, so that was what was appealing to me.
"It's always tough leaving home, but to get the most out of your career you've got to make sacrifices and it's nice to see that it's paying off."
Espanyol have made a decent start in the league, only losing twice so far and one of those defeats was at Real Madrid.
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Dolan is enjoying working under Manolo Gonzalez and relishing his freedom to make his mark in the final third.
"He wants me to express myself as much as I can,” he explained. “Sometimes previously I've had managers where I feel like there's been ceilings being put on my creativity.
"People have the way they want to work, and that's fine, but I think he's really allowing me to be myself and that's when I do play my best football, when I'm given that that license to go and create.
"He said, 'I've brought you here to do that, so I want you to maximise it as best as you can, but don't forget you've got to get back and defend!'
“You make sure that you’re working hard but some things don't need to be explained to me, I know that’s a standard.
"I base myself off of working hard so I'm always back helping my full-backs at any point. And yeah he's just been amazing with me.
“He also understands it's a big change coming from your home to new environments, and you just know he's got that love for you without actually expressing it, you can feel it.”
The wide man enjoyed arguably his best season in the Championship last term as Rovers narrowly missed out on the play-offs, but it has still been a steep learning curve moving to the Spanish top flight.
"The standard, in itself, is a massive jump and that's no disrespect to the Championship," he insisted.
"It's an amazing league with some quality players, but the quality here is different. It's more like that on the ball quality. The tactics that go into the game are just a different level and it's also that consistency.
“You've got to be consistent in this league because all the top players are consistent, and every single game you've got to be at it because you can get really punished.”
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