Youri Tielemans reveals Arsenal approach

Belgium international Youri Tielemans has revealed that that Arsenal had made an approach for his services during the summer transfer window. 

The 20-year-old had attracted attention from a whole host of clubs including the Gunners before securing a £22m move to AS Monaco from Anderlecht.

In a report covered by Metro, the midfielder confirmed that there was indeed interest from Arsenal, but he was not prepared to play backup to the vast midfield talent at the Emirates.

"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," he is quoted as saying bt Metro.

"I knew that I would not get many first-team chances with them, 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." 

Tielemans has taken up the position left by Tiemoue Bakayoko, who joined Premier League club Chelsea for £40m in the summer. He has managed seven appearances across all competitions for Monaco this term, contributing a single goal in the process.

Despite losing several key players over the summer, Monaco have kept tabs with Paris Saint-Germain at the start of the season, and they are just a solitary adrift of the league leaders. They entertain Portuguese giants Porto in the second game of the Champions League group stage later tonight.