Julian Draxler has explained why he decided to stay at Paris Saint-Germain amid interest from Arsenal around deadline day.

The 23-year-old was linked with a move away from the Ligue 1 club following the arrivals of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. Arsenal were touted as his most likely destination and had interest, but a late deal never happened.

The German has now explained why he didn’t push for a move away despite his place in the first-team coming under serious threat from the new signings.

“I am greatly looking forward to playing with Neymar and Mbappe — but, if players are bought for €222m or €180m, they have an advantage on paper,” he said, reports Football.London. “But I am confident — that’s why I didn’t think about leaving Paris.

“I only played two games for a short time [on the pitch] in Paris, but I came back to training four weeks later than other players because of the Confederations Cup. That’s something which is forgotten about in the media sometimes.

“The 90 minutes [against Norway] have been very, very important for me. I also sent a sign to Paris that they can bank on me.”

There’s certainly no faulting Draxler’s confidence if he thinks he can get in the team ahead of Neymar and Mbappe. He, like a lot of PSG’s players, are understandably excited to play with the new signings and be a part of an exciting project.

A few games on the bench might be worth a Ligue 1 title and a deep run in the Champions League. Draxler has been at PSG for nine months, having joined from Wolfsburg last January, and was in impressive form in his debut campaign.

He ended the season captaining Germany and winning the Confederations Cup.