Belgium star explains why he rejected Spurs, West Ham

Matt Stead

Thomas Meunier turned down approaches from Tottenham, West Ham and Middlesbrough so he could move to Paris Saint-Germain.

Meunier was the subject of interest throughout Europe after starring for Belgium at Euro 2016.

The right-back was on the bench for the first match – a 2-0 defeat to Italy – but played every minute of the rest of the campaign as they were knocked out by Wales in the quarter-finals.

It was expected that Meunier had earned a move from Club Brugge in the process, but he was left with a difficult choice of teams to pick from.

He eventually left to join PSG, where he has played 25 games so far this season.

“I had a choice between six or seven clubs that were really serious with their offers,” he said.

“Most of them came from England: West Ham, Middlesbrough, there was Tottenham at one point.

“In Italy, there was Napoli, where I was truly very close to signing. And then, finally, PSG entered into the race and I had a greater chance of making it in the Champions League with them than with anyone else.”