Arsene Wenger still wants Thomas Lemar

After bringing him to London earlier in the year, giving him a tour of the training ground, and otherwise sweet-talking him, Arsenal lodged a £45 million bid for Thomas Lemar’s services with Monaco in late July. The offer was rejected, and that seemed to be the end of that. Until it wasn’t.

Lemar, of course, was the subject of a frantic last-minute flurry of activity once it was clear that Manchester City wanted to buy Alexis Sanchez. As it turns out, neither deal happened, but Arsenal did go so far as to lodge a €100m (£92m) bid for Lemar, which Monaco accepted, but the player rejected the move, opting to stay at Monaco.

Lemar rejecting Arsenal is apparently just a speed bump for the intrepid transfer dealings of Arsene Wenger, though, as he revealed today that, as soon as he can, he’s going to make yet another run at securing Lemar’s services, probably next summer.

So, to recap: Arsenal bid £45 million for Lemar in July. They didn’t get him. They then tried to get him very late in the window, for more than twice that, and by all accounts the player himself said no. So of course, let’s try it again! What could possibly go wrong?

I wonder what it’s like to love a team that knows how to do transfers well.