Arsenal give stars excuses not to join

IT SEEMS Arsenal left it too late to sign Thomas Lemar from Monaco on deadline day, but surely the deal would have happened if Real Madrid or Barcelona had made a similar move for him.

Arsenal cannot pretend to be in the same league as those clubs, but their poor start this season would certainly not have helped in getting this deal over the line.

It is easy for players to make excuses about Arsenal now. They are not in the Champions League and, from Lemar’s perspective, they look like a club everyone wants to leave.

Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil came to the club because they wanted to work with Arsene Wenger and the uncertainty surrounding the manager’s future last season will have played a part in the pair stalling over signing new contracts.

Lemar and Kylian Mbappe are two promising young players from the conveyor belt of talent in France, just like Thierry Henry and Nicolas Anelka were.

Arsenal were beneficiaries back then but such players do not seem so keen to join them now.