Arsenal may not have made a bid for Thomas Lemar in the first place, according to reports.

Transfer deadline day reached its feverish best when it was reported that stingy, “no money” Arsenal had bid £92m for Monaco’s Thomas Lemar.

An hour or so later, the hype was killed when it was reported that Arsenal didn’t have enough time to conclude the deal and would therefore not be signing the Frenchman.

While that twist has left fans reeling, it’s entirely possible that the bid never existed in the first place.

That’s, at least, the view of Nice-Martin journalist Fab Pigalle, who tweeted that no such bid existed.

Arsenal n'a pas fait d'offre à 100M€ pr #lemar @AS_Monaco

— Pigalle (@FabPigalle) August 31, 2017

The tweet simply states: Arsenal did not offer €100m for Thomas Lemar.

The statement fuels all sorts of conspiracy theories.

One popular theory going around is that the whole was a publicity stunt by Arsenal; a symbolic “we tried” in the face of all the criticism they’re going to receive for not signing anyone.

Another theory is that it was a ploy to waste time so that Alexis Sanchez wouldn’t be able to move to City after all.

Whatever the case, Thomas Lemar won’t be joining Arsenal this summer.