Santa Cruz - I owed Rovers

Striker never considered jumping ship

Last updated: 26th August 2008

Roque Santa Cruz Blackburn

Santa Cruz: Paying Rovers back

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Roque Santa Cruz feels that he owed it to Blackburn Rovers to sign a new four-year contract.

The striker joined Rovers from Bayern Munich 12 months ago and enjoyed an impressive debut season at Ewood Park.

He was the subject of a failed bid from Manchester City earlier in the summer and has been linked with several other Premier League sides.

However, rather than push for a move to one of the division's bigger teams, Santa Cruz believes he is indebted to Blackburn for putting his career back on track.

Very ambitious

"People sometimes say when you are in a good position, you need to go to a better team," Santa Cruz told the Daily Mail. "But I have something to pay back to the club.

"When the club have done something good for you, you have to be aware of it and do something good for the club.

"They offered me the chance to become a better player. That's why I came here in the first place, and that's also the reason why I signed a new deal.

"This a very important year for the club, having changed the manager and with new people coming in. I am aware of the situation and I'm here to help the club.

"I am very happy everything is done and I'm staying here. They were the ones who would decide what is happening. They understand also that I'm very ambitious."