Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has told French TV That the club did submit a €100m bid for Monaco’s Thomas Lemar, but he wanted to stay with the Ligue 1 champions.
The Gunners made a dramatic late bid to sign the 21-year-old as speculation grew that Alexis Sanchez was closing in on a move to Manchester City.
While the transfer merry-go-round collapsed as it became apparent Lemar wouldn’t be moving and so couldn’t be brought in as a replacement for Sanchez, the Chilean international remains at Arsenal while Lemar will continue with Monaco.
Wenger has been speaking to Telefoot about the saga, and confirmed that Arsenal did make a €100m offer for Lemar, but the highly-talented Frenchman wanted to stay where he was.
However, as noted by journalist Matt Spiro in the tweet below, in the same interview, Wenger insisted that they would try again next year, but it remains to be seen if they can convince both Monaco and Lemar to complete the deal the second time round.
The winger scored 14 goals and provided 17 assists in 55 appearances last season, adding two assists in four Ligue 1 games so far this year while he bagged an impressive brace for France in their win over the Netherlands earlier this week.
Arsène Wenger reconnaît qu'Arsenal a proposé 100 M€ pour Thomas Lemar mais le joueurs "voulait rester à Monaco"#GenerationTelefoot pic.twitter.com/3uphA9IN2M
— Téléfoot (@telefoot_TF1) September 3, 2017
Wenger: 'Yes, we bid 100m euros for Lemar. Yes, we'll come back in for him' (Telefoot)
— Matt Spiro (@mattspiro) September 3, 2017