Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has given his thoughts on Florian Thauvin, the Marseille midfielder the Gunners will face in tonight’s crucial Champions League clash at the Emirates.

Thauvin was linked constantly with the north London club in January before he agreed a move to Ligue 1 Lille.

“I have my reasons”

The 20-year-old was on the move again this summer, eventually agreeing a deal to move to Stade Velodrome, although only after skipping training sessions to force a move.

Back in September, Thauvin justified his antics, saying: “I understand the Lille fans are disappointed and upset but sometimes things happen within a club that are not made public.

“I know what I did and why I did it, I have my reasons but I don’t want to go into it. I am comfortable with what I did and I do not regret it at all.”

Wenger believes though that it showed a poor mentality and revealed that the Gunners were following him closely before his move to Marseille.

Professor questions mentality

The Arsenal manager added: “It was a surprise transfer for me. We were following him and we were interested in him before he joined Lille.

“For me, he is one of the big prospects of French football. He will go higher. He is only 20. His progress now will not depend on his talent but his mentality.

“We saw in the summer that he showed a great mental strength, but you can also question his mentality for the way he behaved towards Lille. Only the future will tell us.”

No match winning performance this evening…

The French midfielder, as Wenger said, is a tremendous talent and I for one hope these kind of comments don’t provoke a match winning performance from Thauvin.

At the weekend, the French under-21 international scored and assisted a goal in Marseille’s 3-1 away league win at AC Ajaccio.

And in the last Champions League match day he did the same, however this time his goal and assist couldn’t inspire an away win against Napoli.

Lets hope he doesn’t deliver a match winning display tonight because if he does it will certainly make Wenger look silly.

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