Timothy Castagne left Atalanta and completed a move to Leicester City earlier this week.
Prior to agreeing a deal with the Foxes, the fullback was linked to Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham Hotspur.
However, the Belgium international turned down a chance to join the Ligue 1 winners in favour of Brendan Rodgers’ side. This has been revealed by the player’s father during an interview with Het Nieuwsblad.
“PSG showed interest, but the very physical Ligue 1, where you only have three teams, does not attract him,” Pierre Castagne said.
“Tim also played for Genk, not for Anderlecht. And for Atalanta, not for Inter. A club where the players feel like stars is not his thing.”
“Above all, he dreamed of the Premier League. As a twelve-year-old fan of Arsenal and Thierry Henry, said that he wanted to play there one day.
“When he played friendly against Leicester last year, he was over the moon afterwards. They play good football and at a high intensity.”
Tottenham’s failure to offload Serge Aurier this summer was one of the reasons behind their failure to bring the former Genk man to north London.
Regarding Tottenham, Timothy’s father explained: “He conducted a video conference with José Mourinho, but Tottenham had to sell Serge Aurier first. With a little more money they could have made an offer, like Leicester.”
According to newspaper, Rodgers has long been an admirer of Castagne as he tried to sign him for Celtic in 2018. It’s claimed conversations with the former Liverpool manager and Youri Tielemans convinced the defender to join Leicester.
Pierre also explained Atalanta manager Gian Piero Gasperini’s role in his son’s exit from the Serie A club.
“Gasperini is a coach who never talks to his players, not even his captain. Before the Champions League match against PSG, they trained with a starting eleven for ten days, with Tim in the team,” he stressed.
“Then one hour before the match, it turned out that he was sitting on the bench. There was no explanation.
“That played a part in leaving. I say that, but Tim will never say that himself, out of respect for Gasperini. With a trainer who communicates with him, he will make progress.”
