Arsenal fans still enraged by the club’s activity on transfer deadline day – or inactivity to be precise – have now been given insight from Arsene Wenger. The Frenchman failed to add to his two summer signings despite selling Oxlade-Chamberlain, disappointing supporters who begged for new recruits.
The north London giants appeared close to a new club-record signing when Monaco accepted a bid for Thomas Lemar. The Frenchman had long been on Wenger’s radar, but Le Prof waited until the final day to make a £92m bid for the winger.
The Ligue 1 champions accepted the offer, but Lemar – who was in action in France’s 4-0 win over Holland – rejected a move to the Emirates Stadium.
“The player chose to stay in Monaco. I do not want to talk too much. You have to respect what really happens on the negotiation side,” Wenger told beIN Sports.
“I know we live in an era of transparency but at some stage to respect everybody you have to not talk too much about that.”
Exclusive: Wenger is confident that @Alexis_Sanchez will stay "100%" @Arsenal and committed this season. #TransferTalk #AFC pic.twitter.com/KOV3JHIvRU
— beIN SPORTS (@beINSPORTS) September 1, 2017
Despite wanting a Premier League move, Lemar was not interested in playing in the Europa League with Arsenal. As a result, the Gunners failed to get their man.
That failure also saw Alexis Sanchez stay. There were rumors that had Lemar agreed to a move, Arsenal would negotiate selling the Chilean to Man City. The former Barca man wanted out and was keen on a reunion with Pep Guardiola.
Sanchez’s dream move did not go through, but according to Wenger, that transfer was bordering on impossible: “It was not very close, it's very difficult for me to speak about that because what I want now is the player to focus on his career, on his season and Arsenal.”
Wenger added: “I cannot tell you everything that happened because after you decide to let a player of that calibre go, you need to replace him because nobody would understand that you let the player go.
“When you cannot do it you keep the player, and you make a financial sacrifice because at the end of the day what you want is to have a team with good potential and top quality.”
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