Thomas Lemar scored twice for France
Thomas Lemar scored twice for France

Arsene Wenger watched on with envy as Thomas Lemar inspired his native France to a 4-0 win against Netherlands in Paris on Thursday night.

The Arsenal boss was in the French capital early on Thursday, fueling rumours that he was there to tie up a deal for Monaco star Lemar.

Alexis Sanchez’s move to Manchester City was dependent on Lemar moving to Arsenal but he turned down a move to the Emirates after the Gunners had a £92m bid accepted.

There simply wasn’t enough time left in the window to convince Lemar of the benefits of leaving Monaco and he was a starter in France’s World Cup qualifier against Netherlands.

The winger showed Wenger what he was missing with a sublime hit to put Les Bleus 2-0 up and summarised Arsenal’s transfer window by stealing a certain goal off Alexandre Lacazette.

Antoine Griezmann slid a perfectly-weighted ball to the back post where Lacazette was waiting to tap in but Lemar stretched to grab his second of the game.

To make matters worse for the on-watching Wenger, Laurent Koscielny had an injury scare after taking a nasty challenge from Arjen Robben.

Not the best of days for the red half of north London…