Bayern Munich and Germany star, Philipp Lahm has revealed that he turned down offers from Manchester United and Barcelona to stay in Germany.

Lahm said: "Yes, as a player you always think about your options, and there was a time where Manchester United made an approach for me - and Barcelona looked at me too - so I considered life in England or Spain. The Premier League was an interesting possibility. But in the end I decided to stay in Germany."

The 31-year-old has rose through the Bayern youth sides to become of the biggest names at the club since his return from his loan spell at VfB Stuttgart way back in 2005.

He added: "Bayern is my home town club and I thought good things could happen for the club, so I signed on for more years, and it proved to be the right decision. I felt we had the chance to win the Champions League, and I was right. I’d rather win it with my club, my home town team, than with any other. So England might have been nice – but I am glad I stayed in Germany."

Lahm has been re-invented since the arrival of Pep Guardiola to the Allianz Arena with the Spaniard converting him from a full-back into a central defensive midfielder and it is a role he has excelled in so far. 

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Danial  Kennedy
Award-winning sports journalism graduate. Currently studying a PR Masters at the University of Sunderland. Writing for VAVEL since August 2014. Twitter - @ddkjournalism.