Arsene Wenger turns his attention to N’Golo Kante after missing out on Jamie Vardy
Leicester striker penned a contract extension ruling him out of move but Wenger still interested in French midfielder
ARSENE WENGER may have missed out on Jamie Vardy - but N'Golo Kante is still on his summer wishlist.
The England striker ,29, penned a four-year extension to his King Power contact yesterday, putting to bed speculation of a move to North London after the Gunners activated his release clause.
Vardy - who netted his second England goal against Wales at Euro 2016 - has decided to stay with the Premier League champions, snubbing Wenger's lucrative offer to join him at the Emirates.
The Frenchman told BeIN: "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.
"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 has not given up on Kante however, as the midfielder continues to impress with France after his breakthrough season.
But the Gunners boss admits that there are plenty of clubs monitoring the Foxes sensation, who has a £25million release clause.
He continued: "It is very difficult to talk about 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 Nampalys Mendy from Nice with similar qualities to Kante, so whether they envisage to lose him or not I don’t know."
Kante's performances for France have reinforced the ease to which he's adapted to international football.
And Wenger believes that he is now a stalwart of the side and can help Didier Deschamps side triumph in their home tournament.
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He said: "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."
Kante has been linked with Real Madrid in recent days and has attracted interest from Chelsea during the transfer window.