Pedro Martínez: “I like to test myself, see if I am capable of living up to the Real Madrid project”

The Valencia Basket coach, Pedro Martínez, stated that he likes challenges and assumed his signing, after payment of the clause, for Real Madrid for the 2026-27 season to replace Sergio Scariolo, as well as ensuring that he did not know that he was going to leave the ‘taronja’ bench in the celebration of the Endesa League title.

In an interview with the newspaper Las Provincias reported by Europa Press, Pedro Martínez explained the reasons for his departure. “I liked the approach they gave me on Friday the 26th, it was an approach of maximum ambition. There is one thing I like and that is to test myself, to test myself in a team that has the maximum ambition,” he indicated.

In that sense, Martínez said that this ‘pressure’ is something that he had not had the opportunity to experience in his career. “And it catches my attention to see if I am capable of being in a team that has the maximum sporting ambition, that has great resources. To see if I am capable of living up to a project of that type,” explained the future white coach.

Likewise, he was understanding with the ‘shock’ that the news of his signing for Real Madrid has created in Valencia Basket and its surroundings. “Yes, I understand it. The thing is that I can’t control that either. I get the feeling that the fact that I go to the team I go to magnifies the impact of the news. If my departure were to go to other teams, surely the impact would not be the same. In the end they are professional decisions,” he argued.

Martínez said that when he renewed with Valencia Basket in March he did not have an agent and believed it was going to be his last contract as a professional coach at the highest level. Then, his entourage told him that “two Euroleague teams”, one of them Real Madrid and “another foreigner”, were interested in hiring him and wanted to know what his exit clause was.

The coach informed the Valencia Basket sports director, Luis Arbalejo, of this interest, but that he was focused on the play-offs for the title. The day after the league title, on June 25, Real Madrid contacted him and on June 26 he met with him in Barcelona in the afternoon.

“At the time of the speech I was still coach of Valencia Basket, I had a valid contract and there was nothing that made me think that I was going to leave for sure. I didn’t know I was going to leave. At that moment, and until the last minute, I have been coach of Valencia Basket and I have given my all for Valencia Basket. Until the last minute,” he remarked.

Valencia Basket offered him a contract improvement without having a written offer from Real Madrid. “It was a very good offer. Very similar to Real Madrid’s in economic terms and the only difference perhaps was that Valencia Basket’s offer was for two years and Real Madrid’s for three,” he revealed.

He liked the approach that the white club made to him. “It was an approach of maximum ambition. There is one thing that I like and that is to test myself, to test myself in a team that has the maximum ambition and therefore also the maximum pressure that I will have to coach that team. That is something that in my career I had not had the opportunity to have and it catches my attention to see if I am capable of being in a team that has the maximum sporting ambition, that has great resources. To see if I am capable of living up to a project of that type,” he justified.