Josko Gvardiol says the option to stay at Dinamo Zagreb on loan contributed to his decision to join RB Leipzig over Leeds.
The Whites were keen to take the young defender straight to the Premier League but Leipzig won the race for his signature.
He is now set to stay at Dinamo on loan and, in an interview translated by Croatian Scout on Twitter, he said that he was looking forward to staying at his boyhood club.
He said: "I'm happy and excited. I'll get back here and continue with the training and prepare for Thursday.
"The agreement goes in my favour. I hope it will be beneficial to me to prepare for a top-five league, the Bundesliga."
Gvardiol, 18, said that, while Leeds had made an offer for him, he did not feel ready to move to the Premier League.
The centre-back explained that staying at Dinamo on loan is something that could benefit him in the long-term as opposed to moving to the Premier League before he is ready.
He said: "The reason was that they gave me an option to stay at Dinamo for a bit longer.
"I think it was too early to go to England, one of the strongest leagues in the world.
"So staying at Dinamo will contribute to my development in general."
It comes after the player's agent shot down any talk that the deal was due to financial incentives at Leipzig.
"True, he had an offer from Leeds but he chose Leipzig for the sporting project," Andy Bara told Calciomercato.
"At an economic level the offers were practically the same."
