Emerging as one of the more interesting centre-back talents in Ligue 1 last season, Joris Gnagnon attracted a lot of interest over the summer from a variety of clubs.
Currently at Rennes, the 20-year-old saw Bundesliga (Borussia Dortmund), Premier League (Chelsea and Tottenham) and bigger Ligue 1 (Marseille) outfits queuing up for his services, but, in the end, the Ivory Coast international decided that staying at Rennes was better for his career, at least for now.
Speaking to FootMercato, Gnagnon admitted the rumours regarding his future were a bit distracting, which affected his early performances.
He said: “It wasn’t easy, to be honest. After that, you need to face the truth, meaning that if I went to Chelsea, I wasn’t guaranteed to play. You go to Dortmund, you’re not guaranteed to play either. Whether I went left or right, I wasn’t guaranteed to play.
“I weighed the positives and the negatives with my entourage and my agent, and we told ourselves that spending an extra season at Rennes was for the best. It wasn’t easy, but a choice needed to be made”.
Playing with the club’s reserves two years ago, the centre-back still can’t get over how quickly things have happened for him, flattered to be receiving interest from clubs like Antonio Conte’s side.
The Italian manager was known to want a new defender over the summer, linked with a variety of targets, eventually settling on AS Roma’s Antonio Rudiger.
As for Gnagnon, if he had the choice again in the near future, he’d cross the Channel rather than head further south.
He explained: “I really want to play over there [England]. I’d really want to live that with the fans, the game. It’s magnificent to see. It must be quite something.
“I really like Chelsea as we have a really famous Ivorian player who played there who’s Didier Drogba. It’s a prestigious club. I really like Chelsea but also Manchester United. They are two clubs that I appreciate the most over there”.
