‘Difficult’: £120k-a-week star explains why he didn’t join Leeds or Arsenal

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Leeds United and Arsenal were linked with Julian Draxler over the summer and, speaking to BILD, the Paris Saint-Germain star admitted he considered his future before opting to stay at the Ligue 1 champions.

At the height of summer, when Mikel Arteta’s Gunners were being talked of as a genuine destination for a £30 million playmaker (FT), Draxler was weighing up whether he had a future at Parc des Princes.

According to BuzzSport, the former Schalke and Wolfsburg star was concerned a lack of regular starts at PSG could cost him a place in Germany’s Euro 2021 squad.

He needn’t have worried, with Joachim Low handing him the captain’s armband ahead of Wednesday’s 3-3 draw with Turkey.

Draxler clearly remains a key part of the World Cup winner’s plans – even if he has been in and out of the PSG team during Thomas Tuchel’s tenure.

“In the summer, I thought about trying to do something else,” Draxler admits after netting his sixth international goal with a sublime clipped finish against the Turks.

“(But) it was ultimately difficult to find a club where I would have said: ‘Everything fits well, I definitely want to (come here)’. So I decided I would not dare to (leave) and keep looking for my chance at Paris.

“I had a good conversation with Thomas Tuchel. Then I felt I still had the chance to be a starter and that I was definitely not written off.”

Draxler will be a free agent in 2021 and, according to Tuttomercatoweb, PSG were willing to sell their £120,000-a-week midfielder for just £14 million.

The 62-cap star turned down the chance to join Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United revolution, however, and has since been rewarded with an increasingly influential role at the dominant force of French football.

Draxler has started each of the last four Ligue 1 matches under Tuchel.