It’s no secret that Arsène Wenger tried to acquire Morgan Schneiderlin this summer, and in transfer windows before, but it has also recently come to light that he enquired, to A.S. Monaco, about Anthony Martial.
Manchester United signed Anthony Martial from Monaco for £36 million on deadline day, and brought in Morgan Schneiderlin, from Southampton, for around £25 million in the middle of July.
In the pre-match press conference, for tomorrow’s Premier League game against Manchester United, the Arsenal manager has revealed why he failed to sign Anthony Martial this summer:
“Anthony Martial was not sellable. He was one of the players Monaco didn’t want to sell so we never made any approach for him.”
“They managed to do it because they offered special money. Is he overpriced? The future will tell us that.”
Arsène has come under a bit of fire, following the close of the transfer window, as he only signed one player to his first team, and that was world class keeper Petr Cech for £10 million, from Chelsea.
Cech was replaced by Colombian keeper, David Ospina, in Arsenal’s midweek loss to Olympiacos. Wenger’s decision to switch the net minders was the primary source of blame for the 3-2 home loss.
The French manager was also questioned as to why he missed out on signing fellow countryman Morgan Schneiderlin.
Wenger replied:
“Again I had information on this case that I am not in a position to tell you.”
It seems like a case of Arsenal just taking no for an answer, when they enquire to clubs about their best players and top prospects. Obviously no club want to sell their best players, which is why it takes “special money” to pry them away.
Arsenal host Manchester United tomorrow at 16:00, both Anthony Martial and Morgan Schneiderlin are fit, and expected, to play.
