Arsene Wenger has confirmed Arsenal made a £92million bid for Thomas Lemar and will revisit their interest in the France international in 2018.
The Gunners failed with a club-record offer for the Monaco winger on transfer-deadline day in a move which could have subsequently seen Alexis Sanchez sold to Manchester City.
City had made several bids for Sanchez, whose contract with Arsenal runs out at the end of the season, but the Gunners did not want to let the Chile international leave unless they recruited a big-name replacement.
Wenger said: “We bid 100 million euros for Lemar but the player wanted to stay in Monaco.
“We’ll come back in for him. When you let go of a player (Sanchez) of that calibre, you have to have a substitute, otherwise no one would understand that choice.”
Arsenal were also linked with Lemar’s Monaco team-mate Kylian Mbappe, but the teenage sensation ended up joining PSG for a fee Wenger admits was beyond the Gunners.
Wenger added: “I wanted Mbappe too, but 180million euros is too much for us. But he is a guy that makes a difference. Ninety per cent of the players depend on the team, but he falls in the other 10 per cent. There is no limit, he can be the new Pele.”
Wenger also admitted he considered leaving Arsenal “for personal reasons” this summer before signing a two-year contract extension. Read more on that here.