Arsene Wenger admits that Arsenal did bid £92m for Thomas Lemar and revealed that he plans to return for the winger.
Wenger has been on Telefoot and admitted that Arsenal did bid £92m for Lemar on Transfer Deadline Day. However, the 21-year-old chose to stay at Monaco.
Arsène Wenger reconnaît qu'Arsenal a proposé 100 M€ pour Thomas Lemar mais le joueurs "voulait rester à Monaco"#GenerationTelefoot pic.twitter.com/3uphA9IN2M
— Téléfoot (@telefoot_TF1) September 3, 2017
Wenger: 'Yes, we bid 100m euros for Lemar. Yes, we'll come back in for him' (Telefoot)
— Matt Spiro (@mattspiro) September 3, 2017
Wenger also said that Arsenal will return for Lemar in the future.
The boss previously revealed that the Gunners had moved for the Monaco winger but Lemar has chosen to stay put. However, the revelation that Arsenal bid £92m for ANY player is pretty intriguing and suggests that Alexis Sanchez was indeed on his way to Manchester City.
Arsenal were said to be paying Monaco a total package of £92m, including £17m in add-ons, which would smash the previous club record of £52m for Alexandre Lacazette.
City were allegedly willing to pay £60m for Alexis, so that would cover some of the fee.
Obviously, we don’t currently know why Lemar wanted to stay at Monaco considering the young France international was reportedly keen on a move to Arsenal all summer. However, he’s already get the new Ligue 1 season underway, making four starts in four games, so perhaps he just sees this as best for his career with the World Cup next year.
Lemar himself didn’t appear to close the door on a future move to north London following his brace for France, saying, “For the moment I am Monegasque.”