Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger confirms €100m offer for Monaco playmaker Thomas Lemar

Arsenal did make a €100m (£92m) offer for Monaco playmaker and mooted Liverpool target Thomas Lemar on deadline day and will return for the France international in the coming months, according to manager Arsene Wenger.

The Gunners pursued Lemar throughout the summer but failed in their attempts to prise him away from the principality. Wenger's men went so far as to submit a club-record offer for the 21-year-old, who scored twice as France made light work of Holland on Thursday night (31 August).

Arsenal were prepared to shell out an inordinate amount of money but could not get the deal done for a multitude of reason. Despite the disappointment over failing to land one of their top summer targets, Wenger confirmed that their pursuit of the former Caen star is not over by any stretch of the imagination.

"€100m for Lemar? Yes all true, I wanted him," Wenger told Telefoot, relayed by The Mirror. "He decided to stay at Monaco, We will come back for him."

Arsenal may well try to sign Lemar in the upcoming transfer windows with Alexis Sanchez destined to leave on a free transfer at the end of the current campaign, but they may still miss out on the diminutive attacker to one of their supposed rivals.

Liverpool registered their interest in Lemar during the dying embers of the transfer window, and the Times claim that the Frenchman prefers a move to Anfield over the Emirates Stadium. Jurgen Klopp's side reportedly tested the waters with a £67m offer just a few days before the end of the transfer window but failed to conclude a deal, though they did manage to prise Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain from Arsenal in a deal that could be worth up to £40m.

Lemar would certainly be a viable replacement for Liverpool playmaker and Barcelona target Philippe Coutinho, who failed to push through a move to the Camp Nou despite pushing through a transfer request. Barcelona claimed that Liverpool placed a €200m price tag on Coutinho on the final day of the transfer window, but the Reds have since rubbished those claims.