Arsene Wenger appears to have signalled an end to his pursuit of Kylian Mbappe after stating he believes the 18-year-old will stay at Monaco for at least another season.
The France international has been the subject of interest from a host of top European clubs with Arsenal, Real Madrid, PSG and Manchester City all thought to have made approaches.
It’s believed Wenger sat down with the player for three hours earlier in the summer before lodging a bid in excess of €100 million. His club were quick to rebuff the approach.
Asked whether he’d returned with a bid of £123 million for Mbappe, Wenger replied:
“That’s not true. People have a big imagination. What we know now with Mbappe is that it [his valuation] is over £100 [million], after it’s free to imagine what you want. We have not made any offer.
“It looks like that [he will stay at Monaco], yeah. Too much choice maybe, so in the end people don’t move.”
Last night Mbappe took to social media to make an announcement about his future, only to tease everyone that it was about a new pair of boots he’ll be wearing this season.
Fair play to the lad, at least he’s not taking himself too seriously. Whether Arsenal get a shot at trying to sign Mbappe again remains to be seen, but for now it looks this is one deal that definitely won’t be happening.
Keep Sanchez and there is no problem.
Mbappe sounds great but that amount for a player his age is crazy.
Funny things happen on the final day of the transfer window.
Shock……Horror….Oh the Shock.
Fair enough, I can’t really complain. I sure hope we get Lemar though or someone similar and manage (somehow) to keep Alexis
Media and fan focus now shifts solely to Lemar…
They will have to find somebody else to make shit up about
Cue: Mbappe moves somewhere else…
I don’t care what he costs? when he moves we have to be prepared to pay whatever it takes.
i can’t remember another 18yr old bagging 26 in a season, let alone half a season.
The reason Barca+Real play with so much swagger is because the have forwards that wins them games and winning games breeds confidence.
He’d be a game changer for us.
….unless his prolific season rests on the particular partnerships he’s formed with other players in the team. Just look at all those prolific Leicester players two seasons ago. Last season they changed the mix, broke up the partnerships, and none of them looked half the player they’d seemed the previous season. I guess we’ll have a better idea of his real worth as a player if he stays at Monaco next season and the mix changes in the first team. In my imagination this sort of thing is part of why Arsene Wenger watches potential signings over a few seasons.… Read more »
If you don’t get these types of players early then you don’t get them at all. Whatever the cost, whatever you have to do, if Arsenal want to be at the forefront of World Football? then they need to have the worlds best talent representing them. Bang average right backs are costing £50+mill I’d rather pay £120mill for Mbappe than spend £120mill on Walker, Bernard Silva and Ederson. I have no idea why some Arsenal fans care about what players cost? The club aren’t exactly short of a few bob. It’s not like if they don’t spend it? Then ticket… Read more »
“If you don’t get these types of players early then you don’t get them at all.” Except, Wenger *did* try to get him early: he tried to get him last summer, when to most of us Mbappé was nothing more than a mispronunciation of an annoying song by a boy band. This summer, he evidently tried again but the price tag has headed into outrageous territory; and quite possibly the player himself has decided to bide his time at Monaco in preparation for a big move next year. So the notion that Wenger has just been sitting on his hands,… Read more »
I wasn’t saying Arsene had been sitting on his hands with regards to Mbappe, where did I say that? I was saying we can’t afford to sit on our hands. Prices keep escalating, if he costs £120mill this summer? Chances are he’ll cost more next summer. But we have been sitting on our hands and refusing to compete for a long time, it’s why we’re now playing in the Europa league. It’s also possible it’s why we didn’t win the PL two years ago? Refusing to buy a single outfield player whilst renewing contracts of players we knew were knackerd.… Read more »
Yeah bergkamp and Henry are proof your point is bill shot….
As it stands Monaco are a better club, what with being champions and being in the champions league. He’s also wanted by the likes of Real Madrid. He was never going to make the step down to Arsenal. Hopefully we’ll improve and this will change.
Better club? Jesus.
Exactly (Your first sentence). So part of his supposed brilliance may rest squarely on the shoulders of his team-mates. If he feels this to be the case he may choose to stay put or indeed only move to a truly BIG club if he thinks Arsenal’s up and down form from week to week would be a risky choice.
Lemar is a great second choice. COYG.
Lemar was never 2nd choice but an alternative.
you say tits, i say breast.. why we arguing.. hehehe
I think if you are going to make strategy on signing young players then you have to go in a decisive way for the very best 17-21yrs bracket. Clearly was last year was the time to move for Mbappe, add to him to the long list of misses top end talents (Ronaldo et al). Also I feel Arsenal have rather shifted to signing more towards buying first team players directly
It was always a stretch to believe that we’d buy both Lacazette and Mbappé for the sums involved.
He only agreed that it sounds like it. Just saying…
Maybe if we win the league he will be enticed to come to us next year or we could find another player who is extremely talented and young.
Maybe we have that player already. Been very impressed with Joe Willock. I know it’s only Sydney 1&2 but he looks to have a better physique than his brother, along with the skill. Maybe early days, but it’ll be interesting to see if he gets a chance against Bayern and Chelsea in China and also in the Emirates Cup.
Glad we’re not in for him at an asking price of 100m. Absolutely crazy money for a guy with one outstanding season
I think this shifts the “risk” to Monaco if true. Will they get €100m+ bids next year? Who knows. He could have a year which does not build on his potential and finish it with an injury making him unsaleable and delaying his dream move. I always thought the numbers looked a bit funny, so much risk all round
M’bappe is everything that is good and bad about modern football.
After all that speculation: ‘We have not made any offer.’ just proves what a load of shite most transfer reports are.
Even the report above suggests we’ve made an offer of £100m, despite Wenger’s comments.
I think Wenger implied that we did, or at least would given any encouragement from the player. And it’s also implied that we’d go higher, if Mbappe expressed interest in leaving. The issue is that people were making a lot of noise about Mbappe leaving, when in reality he’s very happy at Monaco (they made the CL semifinals, after all).
I think its smart of him to stay at Monaco for another season, maybe even two.
But then we need to get him!
I’d love to have him but if he continues as he is he’ll be going to one of the very top clubs. Arsenal will have to get back to early-2000s levels to get him.
He is priced high by Monaco to keep butt chasing clubs have also pushed price out of reach of each other…if we can’t have him neither can you.
It’s good that this happened this early in the window than dragging on so that we can find concentrate on other targets. Roma wants Mahrez and seem Leicester will accept £29m for was demanding £50m from us, good indication that English clubs spend excessively.
Monaco may regret that, if he is no more than decent this season, they might not find everyone so willing to stump up 100M for him next summer
This deal was never going to happen and there is no way Wenger ever bid 123 million.