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One of Arsene Wenger’s biggest transfer targets has opened up about how he almost became an Arsenal player during the summer. 

The Gunners secured deals for Granit Xhaka, Takuma Asano, Rob Holding, Lucas Perez and Shkodran Mustafi after being urged by fans to spend more in the transfer market.

However, not all transfer targets were snapped up and Jamie Vardy, who rejected a move to the Emirates stadium despite an agreement between Leicester City and Arsenal, insists he made the decision while alone.

“I was in a hotel room [in Chantilly] for so many hours of every day with nothing to do. You had a lot of time on your hands.” he said. “I am not going to beat around the bush – every time I thought about it, and every aspect of it I thought about, both my head and my heart were saying to stay at Leicester, which is why I made my decision to stay.

“There were loads of reasons. You get that much time to think about, every single thing down to the tea lady. You think about what might happen, what might not. Where you could be, where not. Every time I thought about every little thing, though, both head and heart were saying ‘you need to stay’.

“I could see people’s point when they assumed I would go, but, deep down, if you don’t think it’s right for you, you don’t do it. It’s as simple as that.

“In my professional life, it was the hardest decision I’ve ever had to make, but I haven’t been a professional for that long. It was hard, but it was actually an easy decision to make.”

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