Wenger: It’s absolutely stupid to rule Arsenal out of title race

Arsene Wenger admits he almost left Arsenal this summer due to personal reasons before reconsidering his position and signing a new two year contract at the club.

Monaco were not keen on letting Lemar leave this summer, but felt with a €100m bid on the table they had to accept.

According to The Independent, Wenger told Telefoot: “Yes, I hesitated to extend for personal reasons”.

Arsenal have their own disgruntled player to worry about as Sanchez won’t be happy about his proposed move to Man City falling through so Wenger is also likely to revisit his interest in Lemar this January. I just want to shake the tree and tell them how fortunate they are to play at a club of Arsenal’s standing. The Gunners did retain Alexis Sanchez, but it remains to be seen whether last season’s top scorer will return to his best after coming close to joining Manchester City.

Despite Lemar rejecting the Gunners, Wenger says that the club will make a new bid for the 21-year-old winger.

“I wanted him too, but €180m is too much for us”.

And having watched his side suffer another heavy defeat to one of their title rivals, Wenger made his feelings clear about how he felt his players performed.

“We have to continue to believe in our strengths and not forget that to have a successful season we need our fans”.

The window will not be looked back on fondly by Arsenal supporters and the annual pressure that mounts on Wenger has come unusually early this season after he failed to bolster his squad to fans’ admittedly high expectations.

He added that he wanted to sign Mbappe but felt priced out.

After a promising preseason, Arsenal is once again struggling in the Premier League with the long-serving manager, Arsene Wenger, under intense scrutiny by both the fans and the media.