Brentford showed a firm desire to keep Christian Eriksen at the club before Manchester United took the midfielder on a free transfer in the summer window.
The Denmark international returned to the pitch when the Bees signed him in January and offered him a deal until the end of last season.
Eriksen impressed under Thomas Frank and his fine displays convinced Brentford to hand him a new deal. The 30-year-old refused to accept their offer, and switch to Manchester United instead.
On Monday, the former Tottenham Hotspur star admitted he had several options, including Brentford, prior to sealing a move to Old Trafford.
He has given another interview to Denmark’s TV3, relayed by Tipsbladet, detailing why he snubbed the opportunity to continue at the Brentford Community Stadium.
“If I was going to stay in London, it was the certainty that you knew where you were. If it was Brentford, it was where we lived and where our children would go to school. We had that in place,” Eriksen said.
“But at the same time there were ambitions and the opportunities. For me, it was probably the last opportunity to come up to such a big club as United.”
The Dane has stressed he ‘continuously kept’ the Brentford manager updated about his situation. He also revealed it did ‘hurt’ him to let Frank know his final decision was to make a switch to Manchester United.
“Yes, of course it did [hurt]. What they had done for me in those 6 months was absolutely great. It is something that I will always remember. It is absolutely certain,” he explained.
