Arsene Wenger respects Jamie Vardy's decision to snub Arsenal move to remain with Leicester City

Arsene Wenger is ready to move on after accepting Jamie Vardy's decision to snub a move to Arsenal and sign a new contract with Leicester City after weeks of speculation regarding the striker's future. The Gunners had triggered the English forward's £20m ($26.8m) release clause and were hopeful of completing a deal before the Euros, but were thwarted by the Foxes, who made a counter offer, which Vardy has agreed.

The 29-year-old, who is currently with the Three Lions squad at the ongoing European Championships in France, had deferred his decision until the end of the tournament, but his club decided to put an end to the uncertainty by announcing the striker's new four-year deal thought to be worth around £100,000-a-week.

Wenger has made it clear that he is looking to sign a striker this summer and was hoping to get his business done early after the north London club agreed to pay the entire release clause. The striker, however, has decided to remain with the Premier League champions, a decision the Frenchman respects.

The 65-year-old manager will switch his attention to other targets and has been linked to other forwards during the summer with Alvaro Morata's name being frequently mentioned in recent weeks. The player's agent admitting that there are offers from the Premier League's top clubs. The Gunners boss' comments also suggest that they have monitored other targets as well and not pinned their hopes entirely on Vardy, especially after the French coach revealed in an earlier interview that the club were aware of his decision to stay.

"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," Wenger told beIN SPORTS.

"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 also heaped praise on N'Golo Kante, who has taken his Premier League form, which helped the King Power Stadium outfit win the Premier League, to Euro 2016. His performances last season has seen him make his debut and become one of the first names in France's starting XI under Didier Deschamps.

The Arsenal manager also warned Leicester that their star midfielder could leave as he has garnered interest from top clubs all across Europe. Along with the Emirates Stadium outfit, Manchester United and PSG have registered their interest, but Wenger has hinted that he is unlikely to make a move as he has a plethora of midfielders already on the club's books.

"It is very difficult to talk about that at the moment. Kante is on the list of many clubs. It is an area where we have many players," Arsenal manager said.

"We will see what happens in the next two or three weeks. It looks like Leicester have bought a player from Nice [Nampalys Mendy] with similar qualities to Kante, so whether they envisage to lose him or not I don't know," the French manager explained.

"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," he added.

"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."