Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappé says that moving to England and Arsenal was never an option that he seriously considered this summer.

The 18-year-old was officially presented as a Paris Saint-Germain player after his £140m move from Monaco, and gave a press conference to talk about his move and his new club.

Earlier in the summer, Mbappé was linked with Arsenal, although this mostly seemed to just be paper talk rather than anything concrete.

Regardless of how serious the interest was, the French international says he had no plans to leave the country and originally thought he’d stay at Monaco.

He said via the Metro: “Back in May, I was in the frame of mind that I would stay with Monaco. Certain events changed my mind. It was important not to leave France. It was important to return to the city where I grew up.”

Mbappé started his youth career at AS Bondy in Paris before leaving for Monaco in 2013. The chance to go back to Paris must have been a big draw for the youngster.

Meanwhile, Arsenal, out of the Champions League, having won all their most recent league titles when Mbappé was only a young child, don’t really have much of an appeal given they are currently 16th in the Premier League with just three points from as many games this season.

That’s not to mention the huge difference in financial firepower between the two clubs. In the end, Paris probably represented the best option for the forward.