Jannik Vestergaard reveals why he turned down Leicester and West Ham | OneFootball

It’s no secret that Southampton centre-back Jannik Vestergaard was linked to a January exit, with Leicester City and West Ham the two major players in the race.

However, at the end of the day, Ralph Hasenhüttl somehow convinced the Denmark international to stay and fight for his place.

Since then, Leicester City splashed £32m on Wesley Fofana, while West Ham were long linked to James Tarkowski before settling on a loan deal for Watford’s Craig Dawson.

“I won’t lie and say a move hasn’t been in my thoughts,” Vestergaard told Goal.

“I came close (to leaving) in January, but the club and the manager told me they wanted me to stay. And then I stayed.

“This summer there has been some contact from interesting clubs, for example in Spain, but only my agent knows the details, not me.

“I have been dedicated to the idea of continuing at Southampton, and I certainly feel my manager believes in me and my qualities.

“I wanted to stay, just like other players chose to stay this summer because we want to be a part of the great project going on here.

“I am sure that as a team – we’ve been together for a while now – we will build upon our great results especially after the corona break, and that our manager’s exciting system will only get better and better, the more automatised it gets.

“I strongly believe that we will develop and have a great season and finish higher in the table than in recent seasons.”

The 28-year-old has appeared in three of Southampton’s four Premier League outings thus far, starting and going the full 90 minutes in their clean-sheet victories over Burnley and West Brom the last two times out.