Yassin Fortune has explained that he turned down a four-year contract at Arsenal because he wanted to move somewhere he could play regularly.
Back in May, Fortune confirmed that he would be leaving Arsenal and although the club offered the player a new contract, he agreed a four-year deal with FC Sion.
The 19-year-old signed for Arsenal in 2015 along with Jeff Reine-Adelaide.
If you remember, that was the window when Arsenal bought only Petr Cech for the first team. It was also the window that then-chief scout, Steve Rowley, decided Virgil van Dijk was ‘too nonchalant’ for Arsenal.
“Arsenal offered me a 4-year extension,” Fortune told Foot Mercato. “But I wanted to enter into professional football.
“Arsenal is a great club, but I needed playing time. I had to play, and I preferred to leave. It was difficult to stay at Arsenal in the sense that there were big names and a new manager.
“I spoke with Per Mertesacker which made me think very hard. He absolutely wanted me to stay. But I felt again that the best solution was to leave. At that moment, I was not yet in contact with Sion, but with other clubs. I was contacted by Sion a couple of weeks after deciding to leave.
“I wanted to come back to France but despite a few contacts Sion convinced me.”
Despite being at the club for three years, due to various injuries Fortune made only 22 appearances for the Arsenal u18s, u19s (UEFA) and u23s, netting two and assisting three.
Last season he made only five appearances in Premier League 2 and he never made it to the Arsenal first team.
“At Arsenal, I learned a lot,” Fortune added. “You do not refuse Arsenal. Part of me wanted to stay, the other part told me I was lucky. I was between the two.
“I didn’t really have a choice [in leaving Lens for Arsenal]. You could say that I was forced to leave. At the beginning, I really did not want to leave Lens. I wanted to stay. I was good there, things were going really well.
“I had coaches who were allowing me to progress a lot. I did not want to leave at all but the board made it clear that I kind of had no choice. My priority was to play at Bollaert [Lens’ stadium].
“I still had 2 years on my contract and I was performing well, notably with the U17 national team. I even went up with the U19s and the reserves. I think that I was not far from the first team. I had all my friends in the youth academy, and it was hard to leave.”
Fortune has two goals and one assist from 12 games with FC Sion who play in the Swiss Super League. He is averaging around 54 minutes per game.