Say what you like about Arsene Wenger, but at least he didn’t dodge the issue.
Modern-day managers are constantly talking in meaningless cliches that tell you absolutely nothing about anything you actually want to know. Their prime intention when addressing a question is to not answer it at all.
Arsene Wenger is going through a tough time of it at Arsenal at present, with his popularity with the fanbase seemingly at an all-time low. You’d forgive him for keeping his head down during the international break, but not a bit of it.
A lot has been made of the fact that Thomas Lemar turned Arsenal down on the last day of the transfer window because he didn’t fancy swapping Champions League football for the Europa League, and Wenger has addressed the issue head on.
Speaking to BeIN Sports, Wenger admitted the Gunners were rejected by the player and also spoke about the possibility of both Ozil and Sanchez leaving for free at the end of the season.
“The player has chosen to stay in Monaco.
“You do not want to talk too much about. You have to respect what happens on the negotiation side. I know we live in the era of transparency but at some stage, to respect everybody you have to not talk too much about that.
“Look, I cannot tell you everything that happened because after that when you decide to let a player of that calibre go, you need to replace him because nobody would understand that you let the player go and when you cannot do it.
“You keep the player and make a financial sacrifice because what you want, at the end of the day, is to have a team who has a good potential and top quality.
“That means two things: Alexis Sanchez will go, like Mesut Ozil, in the final year of his contract or you think during the season you will find a way to extend the contract or at the end of the season the players go for free.”
