Arsenal transfer news: Fans will not believe Arsene Wenger made £90m bid for Thomas Lemar

ARSENAL fans won’t believe Arsene Wenger made a £90million bid for Thomas Lemar, says Alex McLeish.

19:55, Thu, Aug 31, 2017 | UPDATED: 20:06, Thu, Aug 31, 2017

Arsenal transfer news Thomas Lemar GETTY

Arsenal Transfer News: The Gunners supposedly bid £90m for Thomas Lemar

Arsenal are thought to have launched a very late offer for Lemar which was accepted by Monaco.

However, the Gunners have not gone ahead with the move, claiming it was impossible to do as Lemar is set to play for France against Netherlands tonight.

Arsenal’s move for Lemar was supposedly being prepared in the assumption Alexis Sanchez was to head to to Manchester City.

That now doesn’t look like it will happen.

But former Aston Villa boss McLeish has questioned whether Arsenal fans will really believe Wenger would have paid the inflated fees required to sign Lemar.

“I don’t think Arsenal fans would accept that they went for Lemar at that kind of price,” McLeish said on talkSPORT.

“I think they would be looking for another name for that kind of money.”

Monaco star Lemar was first targeted last month but Arsenal failed in a bid worth around £46m.

Arsene Wenger said the move was “dead” but today Arsenal’s interest was rekindled.

Buying Lemar would have seen Arsenal’s transfer record almost double.

The Gunners are notoriously frugal in the market and this summer spent £52m on Alexandre Lacazette - their only purchase.

Craig Burley says Thomas Lemar a good fit for Liverpool

Sanchez never publicly requested to leave Arsenal but has refused to sign a new contract.

Conversely, Diego Costa, Virgil van Dijk and Philippe Coutinho have all confirmed they want to leave their respective clubs.

And while McLeish can see why Sanchez won’t be happy at not moving to Manchester City, the Scot sees no reason why the player won’t give 100 per cent to the Gunners cause this term.

“With the likes of Sanchez I think he will knuckle down,” he added.

“That’s what will happen. In terms of the other players who may have to bite the bullet and stay at their clubs, like Coutinho, it will be a couple of weeks before they pick their dummy back up and get on with it again.”