Belgian Wonderkid Youri Tielemans Explains Why He Opted to Join Monaco Over Arsenal This Summer

The Belgian wonderkid was given the opportunity to join Arsenal this summer, but instead choose to join the French champions - due to a fear he wouldn't get enough opportunities at the Emirates.

Arsenal were amongst a host of European clubs chasing the in-demand signature of Youri Tielemans, who has been tipped as a future Ballon d'Or winner following impressive campaigns at former club Anderlecht.

JOHN MACDOUGALL/GettyImages

At just 20 years of age, a move to the Premier League would have put the young talent under a lot of pressure and game time may have been fleeting.

Quoted by the Mirror, Tielemans has opened up about Arsenal's interest: "I knew not much was going to change with Arsenal’s squad.

“Their management wanted to keep the same group of players together in order to finish high in the Premier League", said Tielemans.

"I had to be honest with myself and take a look at the midfielders Arsenal have got. They are top-class players." With Arsenal armed with Xhaka, Wilshere, Ramsey, and Ozil already, his path to the first team would have been blocked.

Scoring against RB Leipzig, Tielemans' £22m move to Monaco has been successful thus far, making seven appearances in all competitions:

"I knew that I would not get many first-team chances with them," said Tielemans, "So I didn't give any more thought to joining them. I never said no to any club. But I made it clear where I wanted to go."

With Arsenal offering Tielemans such a lucrative deal, it was a surprise to see him turn the move down. Ahead of the World Cup, Tielemans has already made his breakthrough into the senior side under Roberto Martinez - with Belgium being heavily tipped to win the tournament in Russia.