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Arsene Wenger confirms Arsenal will again attempt to sign Thomas Lemar despite deadline day snub
Arsenal have not given up hope on signing Thomas Lemar from Monaco with manager Arsene Wenger insisting the club will try again in the future.
Lemar was the subject of an Arsenal bid on deadline day last week - confirmed to be €100million by Wenger - but the player opted to stay with his current club.
The Gunners will not be put off, however, with Wenger revealing he will be making another move for the France international.
"Yes, we bid €100m for Lemar but the player wanted to stay in Monaco," Wenger said in an interview with Telefoot.
"Yes, we'll come back in for him."
He also compared Kylian Mbappe, who completed a season-long loan move to Paris Saint-Germain last week, to Pele and said "there are no limits to how far he can go".
Meanwhile, former Gunners midfielder Emmanuel Petit says Arsenal players need to be told to stop acting "like babies".
Wenger's men have lost two of their opening three Premier League games, including a 4-0 defeat at Liverpool before the international break.
The nature of the defeat at Anfield, where Arsenal did not have a shot on target and had goalkeeper Petr Cech to thank for the scoreline not being even worse, led Wenger to call the performance "disastrous".
Former World Cup winner Petit, who helped Arsenal to the double in 1998, believes the players need a major wake-up call if the club are to achieve success this season.
Petit told the Sunday Mirror: "When I see them play they seem to play -without motivation. The blame is put on Arsene, but I cannot see that it is all down to him. Why should it be?
"Why should a player need motivating to play for one of the biggest clubs in the world, in one of the best stadiums in the world? Some of them do not seem to know what it means to wear that Arsenal shirt.
"They get good money to play for a club like Arsenal. Yet, so few of them look happy and -motivated. How can that be?
"Someone should sit them down and tell them not to act like babies and kids. They should be proud of wearing that Arsenal shirt.
"Many of those players do not seem to realise how lucky they are to be at the club. I just want to shake the tree and tell them how fortunate they are to play at a club of Arsenal's standing.
"If Arsenal are to achieve anything this season, then the motivation must come back into the team. And the players have to be responsible for that."