In March 2010, Taarabt was quoted in an interview as being sorry he had signed for Tottenham, saying, "The big mistake was to sign for Tottenham and not go to another club when I first came over." He stated he wished he had signed for Arsenal instead but had opted for Spurs after Damien Comolli moved from being a scout at Arsenal to director of football at Spurs. He said he felt he would have been given more chances to play at Arsenal and was advised at the time not to sign for Spurs by his friends Armand Traoré and Abou Diaby, who played for Arsenal. Taarabt went on to state his intention to sign for one of the top clubs in Spain: "I hope to be playing for one of the top four in Spain next season – Real Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia or Sevilla. I have contact with good teams and I know that they want me. Now I just have to hope they can agree a deal with Tottenham."