Rewan Amin has revealed that he rejected the chance to sign for Arsenal, preferring instead to stay at home before moving to Sweden.
A Heerenveen player at the time, Amin, who is now just 22, told FotbollDirekt.se, “He [Amin’s agent] talked to me about the [Arsenal] interest, but after thinking about my parents, we decided to stay at home.
“Heerenveen has received many players over the years and I felt it better to stay and focus on doing the best every day.
“The plan was to get up in the A-squad and then be able to pick and choose among offers.
“Now it was not so [the offers didn’t come], but I’m very happy anyway.”
Amin came through the youth ranks with the Dutch side and although a Dutch national, he was born in Dahuk, a Kurdish city in northern Iraq that was a popular tourist destination before the Kuwait war in 1991. He moved to the Netherlands when he was three.
He now plays for Dalkurd FF in the Swedish league, moving there in February 2017 on a free transfer after failing to make the breakthrough into the Heerenveen first team as he had hoped.
The midfielder, who has represented the Dutch national team at u15, 16, 17 and 18 levels, declined to reveal his personal goals, however. He told the Swedish outlet, “I aim to help the team.
“Actually, I do not want to share my personal goals but one of them is to be involved in ten goals for the team. Whether I do it myself or play does not matter. Of course, I have long-term goals too, but it’s not good to look too far forward because every training and match is important along the way.”
He did, however, admit that he dreams of playing in the Champions League. “The ultimate one would be to win [the Champions League] but my goal is to play at a club playing in the Champions League.”
He also admitted that the Premier League is his favourite league. “There are many good leagues,” he continued.
“The Bundesliga with its physique, La Liga. But if I’m going to say a league, it’s the Premier League for me. There are many big club. The audience is close to the plan.
“I do not have a favourite team but I like to watch the top clubs. And maybe that’s why I like the Premier League.”