Monaco winger Thomas Lemar only wanted to join Liverpool, according to a report.

Arsenal’s attempts to sign Lemar yesterday ended in farce when it was revealed that there wasn’t enough time left to complete the deal.

If L’Equipe’s report is anything to go by, though, Arsenal having more time to complete the deal wouldn’t have mattered.

The French paper reports that Lemar only wanted to join Liverpool for that they call “sporting reasons”. You could interpret that in many ways, but it sounds like Liverpool’s Champions League status and Klopp’s vision for his team seduced Lemar into changing his mind.

Near the start of the summer, when all this Lemar stuff was getting into full swing, it was often reported that Lemar wanted to join Arsenal. That it would be a “dream move” for him. That, if Arsenal convinced Monaco to sell, it’d be easy from there.

Evidently, either Arsenal hadn’t convinced Lemar to join or the player had a change of heart once other clubs started coming in for him. Either way, it doesn’t reflect well on the club at all.

In its current state, Arsenal don’t seem to have the same pull as before. Building for the future will be very difficult if we can’t beat our rivals to the best talent out there.