Arsene Wenger reveals he was surprised Manchester United signed Anthony Martial

Arsene Wenger was surprised Monaco sold Anthony Martial to Manchester United

ARSENE WENGER admits he was caught completely unawares when Manchester United bought Anthony Martial on transfer deadline day.

 

Gunners fans are hoping the 19-year-old striker will not do the same to the Arsenal defence when the Premier League leaders arrive at the Emirates Stadium tomorrow afternoon.

Martial, who cost £36million in a deal that could rise to £58m, has made an instant impact at Old Trafford with three goals in his six games so far.

 

And Arsenal followers are already wondering how a player who had been on Wenger's radar for years suddenly dropped off it in the summer, to United's advantage.

"I was surprised that they sold him," Wenger said of Monaco, the club he managed for seven years. "The amount of money was massive but Monaco could have sold him instead next season. 

"I thought they would not sell him this year because they had sold so many other players. They said they would not sell him and I thought they were not in any need to sell and would maintain their word."

 

That proved to be a naïve belief and Wenger also admitted he had been beaten to the punch when Monaco themselves swooped for Martial in 2013.

"We always liked him, already when he was in Lyon," he said. "That was also a surprise, that Lyon sold him for five million Euros."

Arsenal will kick off three points behind United having won 5-2 at Leicester last weekend but Wenger still finds himself fending off the flak from Tuesday’s 3-2 home reverse in the Champions League at the hands of Olympiakos.

 

Arsene Wenger insisted Arsenal's Champions League defeat has no bearing to the Man Utd game

His decision to pick David Ospina in goal ahead of Petr Cech, his only summer signing, came in for a mountain of criticism and Wenger bristled when forced to justify it once more. "I make the decision that I think is right on the day," he said.

That led to a reminder of Jose Mourinho's recent claim that Wenger seems to be the only Premier League manager not under pressure, who remained "king" despite setback after setback.

Wenger's reaction was to threaten to walk out if his nemesis's controversial theories continued to be explored. "Look, stop that story or we stop the press conference," he fumed.

The Frenchman was also annoyed that opinions on his team aired by former players now employed as television pundits are treated as gospel.

 

"One pundit says something on television and all behind that repeat exactly the same thing, but it is quite boring because nobody came out with numbers of this game, where the game was won and lost, it's quite depressing to read and hear that, all coming to the same conclusion," he said.

"We lost a game because we didn't defend well. Yes, the goalkeeper made a mistake but we could still have won the game."

Indeed, Wenger insisted that Tuesday's game was all but irrelevant as it was a Champions League fixture.

"We are playing in the Premier League on Sunday and we have just won 5-2 at Leicester," he said. "I don't see why we should be absolutely down. We are on the back of three or four good results in the Premier League. We had a disappointment in the Champions League and have to analyse it well but every competition is different and you have to go into each competition with a different state of mind. We can be inspired by what we did at Leicester."

Defender Laurent Koscielny and midfielders Matthieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta are out injured but Francis Coquelin is expected to be passed fit.