AS.com

Real Madrid Castilla winger Denís Cheryshev has revealed he has rejected offers from a number of Russian clubs and wants to remain in Spain and fight for his place in the Madrid first team.

He told Russian newspaper 'Moskóvski Nóvisti': "Whatever my chances of playing in the first team may be, I dream of playing in Real Madrid and to do that I know I'll have to keep on working hard."

Cheryshev, who made his debut for Russia, coached by former Real Madrid boss Fabio Capello, last November, also revealed that he considers himself more Spanish than Russian.

"I have lived in Spain since I was five years old and I feel more Spanish than Russian and therefore I would like to stay in Spain," he said.

However, he insisted it was "a great honour" to represent Russia and pledged to "continue working so I can be called up again".

But despite his keenness to play for the Russian national team, playing club football in Russia does not interest him.

"I have a lot of respect for the Russian clubs that only recently came in for offers for me but I would like to continue my career in Europe," he said, adding that if he fails to get into the Madrid team in the future, he may consider a move to the Premier League or the Bundesliga.

Zenit St Petersburg and CSKA Moscow were among the clubs that made Madrid offers for Cheryshev during the January transfer window.

Yet despite this, the newspaper believes that Madrid will sell Cheryshev in the summer, for more than 6.5 million euros, the amount they sold his former team-mate Daniel Carvajal to Bayer Leverkusen for last summer