Arsenal made a late move for Lemar on transfer deadline day, agreeing a £90million deal with Monaco.
But just as it looked like Arsenal and Wenger were signing one of their top targets, the transfer collapsed.
It also had a knock on effect on Alexis Sanchez, who was, therefore, unable to join Manchester City.
Some reports had suggested the failure of the Lemar deal was due to a lack of time.
But Wenger admitted to beINSPORTS that the Monaco ace did not want to move to the Emirates.

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He said: “Lemar chose to stay at Monaco. You have to respect what happens on the negotiation side.
“I know we live in an era of transparency but at some stage, to respect everybody, you have to not talk too much about that.
Lemar then gave Arsenal a glimpse of what they are missing with two goals to help France beat the Netherlands last night.