Wenger Talks Vardy and Kante

Wenger Talks Vardy and Kante

Arsene Wenger has wished Jamie Vardy the best of luck for the future after the striker decided to reject Arsenal in favour of a Leicester City stay.

The Gunners were poised to sign Vardy after the European Championships were concluded after they activated his £20million release clause, making the 29-year-old a much needed addition to the club’s attacking front. However, the Englishman decided against signing for Arsenal and committed his future to the Foxes by signing a new deal.


Arsene Wenger is known to be in the market for a striker this summer, and will be disappointed in Vardy’s rejection – but the Frenchman told beIN Sports that he holds no grudges against the forward and wishes him luck in the future.

“I think Leicester have made a statement and Vardy will stay. We were on the case and interested, but not more than that. He has decided to stay at Leicester and good luck to him.” said Wenger.

“He came late to the game and in fairness Leicester bought him from Fleetwood and he has been successful. He is 29 and he has chosen to stay at Leicester. You have to respect that.”

Wenger also refused to rule out a move for Vardy’s Leicester team-mate N’Golo Kante, who starred for Leicester in midfield last season and is doing the rounds for his country France at Euro 2016. Arsenal are always looking for a solid central midfielder, and Wenger is a known admirer of the Frenchman. Could Arsenal make a move for him this summer?

“It is very difficult to talk about that at the moment. Kante is on the list of many clubs. It is an area where we have many players.”

“We will see what happens in the next two or three weeks. It looks like Leicester have bought a player from Nice [Nampalys Mendy] with similar qualities to Kante, so whether they envisage to lose him or not I don’t know.”

“If you ask 100 people in the street if they want Kante to play [for France] you will get 100 saying yes. He has done the job in one or two games and I am not surprised.”

“I said two months ago this boy will play the whole European Championship. We know him well from Leicester now and I am not surprised that he is starting. He has been one of the revelations of the French team.”

[Quotes sourced via Fox Sports]