New Villarreal signing Miguel Layun says he doesn't understand why former Mexico coach Juan Carlos Osorio wasn't popular with El Tri fans.

Osorio guided Mexico to the round of 16 at Russia 2018, but could not break the Quinto Partido curse, and while the players lauded the Colombian manager, he wasn't very popular with El Tri's fanbase.

"I don't know [why fans didn't take to Osorio], you'd have to ask them." said Layun in an interview with ESPN. "In my opinion, it depends on how close you are, because I've experienced that.

"People that don't know me and come up asking for a photo or whatever tell me 'what a good guy you are, how nice, you don't seem like this from the outside,' or 'I never imagined you'd be like this.'

"Maybe you have an idea, but if you don't know [the person], it's difficult to say. That's why we enjoyed Osorio so much and the fans not so much."

"In the end, it's something that can hopefully change over time because it would be nice to enjoy the national team with your people."

It wasn't the first time that Veracruz native Layun has made headlines this week. The 30-year-old also criticised people on Twitter for comments he had received.

Layun lamented the way "underdeveloped people" use social media, but cleared up the comments later.

"It's not right to accept including death threats and not have the right to express something," Layun told Record. "In the end, there's too much resentment. Everything has a limit."

Layun declared himself delighted at moving from Porto to Villarreal and stressed that the club's drive in wanting to bring him in sealed the deal.

"They made me feel very welcome, that they really wanted me here," Layun told ESPN. "That was important for me."

"I always wanted to stay in La Liga, but in a project where I could play an important role. [Villarreal] made me feel that from the first minute and that was reaffirmed with the arrival of my teammates."