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Wenger speaks out on reported interest in world class attacker

By on January 19, 2017

Arsene Wenger has responded to reports suggesting that he is keen to lure unsettled West Ham playmaker Dimitri Payet to Arsenal this month.

Payet’s future at the London Stadium is in serious doubt after he told the Hammers earlier this month that he wanted to leave and has basically gone on strike to try and force a move before the close of the January window.

Slavan Bilic went public with the news last week and confirmed that the 29-year-old wanted to leave and he’s been forced to train with the kids away from the first team squad ever since.

Arsenal are one of several clubs who’ve been credited with an interest in signing Payet by the newspapers, which is understandable given that Arsene Wenger has openly admitted that he’s a fan of the French international’s.

Payet has been world class over the past year or so for West Ham so many Arsenal fans have been crying out for the boss to open his chequebook and lure the player to the Emirates while he’s clearly unsettled.

However, when asked about his interest in signing the attacker this month, Wenger said that while he does rate the player he has no need to sign him this month as he has plenty of attacking talent at his disposal.

Wenger is quoted as saying by the Mirror.

“I rate Payet but I don’t need Payet because we have so many creative players,”

“We have many players who can play in this position.”

Arsene’s comments come as no surprise as we do actually have a whole host of attackers in the squad right now with Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lucas Perez, Alex Iwobi, Mesut Ozil, Danny Welbeck and even Aaron Ramsey all able to play in Payet’s positions.

Plus, would we really want a player with his attitude, who’s prepared to go on strike to force a move just six months after signing a long-term contract? He’s also nearly 30 and the rumour is he wants to head back to Marseille anyway, so I don’t think we’ll be seeing Payet arriving in north London this month.