Youri Tielemans insists he doesn’t regret staying with Leicester City after a summer filled with transfer speculation, despite a dreadful start to the season for the Foxes.
The Belgian midfielder was heavily linked with a move to Arsenal throughout the transfer window, but a deal never materialised, and he remained at the King Power.
Leicester kicked off the 2022/23 campaign in dreadful form and now sit bottom of the Premier League table with one point from seven games.
But Tielemans, who is in the final year of his deal with the club, believes he made the right decision.
"I'm not going to speak too much about my contract situation at the moment," he said while on international duty with Belgium.
"I didn't leave Leicester in the summer as I always said the project had to be the right one.
"Just because things are getting worse now at Leicester doesn't mean I should regret [staying]."
Manager Brendan Rodgers has come under pressure after Leicester’s run of poor form.
They conceded 11 goals in their last two league games, losing 5-2 to Brighton and 6-2 to Tottenham, and Tielemans said the international break has come at a good time.
"I'm happy to get a bit of fresh air here because it's tough at Leicester right now," he said.
"It's clear that things are not going well at the club. We are doing everything we can as a team.
"At Leicester, the consecutive defeats have affected us as a group. We need to benefit from this break to recharge our batteries.
“It's hard to get it off my mind as it keeps running through my head. Only my kids sometimes prevent me from thinking about it."
Tielemans scored his first goal of what could be his final season as a Leicester player in the heavy defeat to Spurs.
He joined the Foxes from Monaco in July 2019 and has made 166 appearances since, scoring 25 goals and attracting reported interest from the likes of Arsenal and Manchester United.
The central midfielder is valued at £40.5m by Transfermarkt, but he will be available on a free transfer next summer if he doesn't pen an extension.
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Arsenal were looking for a “mystery winger” to complete their squad, while a midfielder was also been touted.
After Nicolas Pepe left the Gunners for more minutes on loan at Nice, manager Mikel Arteta declared a desire to “add firepower”, though he could not guarantee a new player will come in. The Gunners still have interest in Pedro Neto, as well as a Ukrainian wonderkid.
Mohamed Elneny’s injury means that midfield is a little weak right now. FFT reported months ago that personal terms with Youri Tielemans were agreed, with the north Londoners just needing to agree a fee with Leicester: one obstacle remained on Deadline Day. In other news, Bukayo Saka has hinted that he’s close to extending his contract.
