McManaman's arrival saw him become only the second English player to ever play for the club, after Laurie Cunningham had played for them in the 1980s. He became the first-ever player from the Premier League to move to play for Madrid and was also the most high-profile English footballer to move to Spanish football since Gary Lineker had moved to Barcelona from Everton in 1986. When McManaman first arrived, he admitted an initial struggle with loneliness, and spoke at the time of retired former Liverpool player Michael Robinson being his mentor(having also moved to Spain to play football followed by a media career there).