Middlesbrough forward Adama Traore has told Mundo Deportivo he believes he was not given a chance to prove himself at Barcelona.
Traore, 20, joined Barca's youth academy at the age of eight and was tipped by many to have a big future at the club.
But although he made first-team appearances as a teenager under both Gerardo Martino and Luis Enrique, he was sold to Aston Villa for around €10 million last year.
"I didn't leave Barca well," Traore said. "I left because I wasn't given an opportunity. If I had been given one, maybe I could say what I lacked.
"They didn't tell me why [he was leaving]. They made me stay with Barca B, where I had been for two years, and my mentality was to keep growing.
"I just asked them to let me show if I had the right level to be there [in the first team] or not. But I didn't demand anything because that has to be earned day-to-day in training.
"No one spoke to me, though. I would have liked someone to have given me an explanation."
Injuries hampered Traore's first season in England, which ended with Villa's relegation from the Premier League.
Middlesbrough manager Aitor Karanka signed him in the summer, and he said he was enjoying the chance to play Premier League football again.
"Villa were going through a difficult time as well, but it was my first experience in professional football and I realised that it can be tough, too, because not everything is Barca.
"Now at Boro I'm playing more and more. At the beginning I was given time to get used to the style, which is a little more defensive than at Villa, but I'm happy because my objective was to come and play."