Portsmouth defender Sylvain Distin insists he has no regrets ditching high-flying Manchester City last summer.

He told the Independent on Sunday: "When I left, the takeover was half-complete, so I didn't know what was going to happen, they had no coach and lots of the same players. Six or seven then left because it was the end of their contract, and so for me it was an easy decision. It was time to go.

"In the last few years we lost Nicolas Anelka and Shaun Wright-Phillips and I expected at least one or two players to take their positions, and it did not happen. I only played once in Europe at City, and so I thought it's time to do better."

The club's waning fortunes left him unfulfilled.

"I need to love what I do," he explains. "I want to wake up in the morning and feel like I want to go training and I'm going to enjoy it. There was a lot of frustration at City. It was a very tough decision to leave. I waited until the last minute but I'm sure it was better to go. I needed to refresh my mind, have a new challenge and do something new for me."