Mario Lemina has said that if anyone wants to know if Arsenal were interested in him they should ask Juventus.

The midfielder was linked with a move to Arsenal over the summer before making his loan move from Marseille to Juventus permanent. I’m not overly sure why we’d need to ask Juventus, given that they were the club who bought rather than sold him, but there you go.

This is what he’s said:

“Arsenal? I do not know, [you have to] ask Juventus.

“There were a lot of offers but this is not what interests me the most. What interested me the most was what Juventus would say, the project that they would offer me.

“Today, they really wanted me to be a major player on the team and I grew up with them.”

Juventus paid just over £8m for the 23-year-old, offering him a four-year deal.

Marseille purchased Lemina from FC Lorient in 2013, paying £3.4m. Two years later they sent him on loan to Juve before the deal was made permanent this summer.

There is no indication that Arsenal actually did try to sign him, especially not after they agreed a deal with Granit Xhaka. They already have too many midfielders, hence why they’re sending Jack Wilshere out on loan.