Woodgate said in an interview with Reuters: “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’.
“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.
“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.”
