Arsenal have reportedly suffered a ‘setback’ in their pursuit of Riyad Mahrez.

The Gunners have reportedly suffered a setback in their pursuit of Mahrez since now Tottenham have ‘made an enquiry’ for him but were they ever really going to sign him?

While Arsenal were heavily linked with a move for Leicester’s 2015/16 player of the season and were said to be in talks over him coming to north London after signing Alexandre Lacazette for £52m from Lyon. They quickly lost interested, allegedly because the Foxes slapped him with a £50m transfer fee, which the Gunners apparently weren’t willing to cough up for the 26-year-old.

Mahrez didn’t have the best season last term, only scoring six goals in the Premiership compared to 17 the year before, which saw Leicester win the league.

After finding out he would cost £50m, Arsenal then appeared to turn their attention to Thomas Lemar, who they’ve been heavily linked with ever since, with Sky Sports even claiming that talks with Monaco over a move for the 21-year-old are ongoing.

The Gunners have allegedly made three bids of £30m, £40m and £45m.

So, if Arsenal are after Lemar instead, can they really suffer a ‘setback’ for Mahrez?

The report claims that Tottenham are interested in the Algeria international after Roma dropped their interest. However, Spurs are the club being brown-nosed by the media at the moment for not spending anything and vowing to develop their existing players.

Are they really going to go back on all of that and spend £50m on Mahrez?