Is Lemar set to be Arsenal’s replacement for the Ox? Or Ozil? (Plus video)

There are hundreds of Arsenal transfer rumours lately saying that a deal is going to be announced in the next week for the French international Thomas Lemar. The Monaco youngster was amazing for his club last season with 14 goals and 17 assists in all competitions and he is only 21. It is no wonder that Didier Deschamps decided to put him in the full France national side and he has already earned 5 caps.

He is left footed and has played all over the midfield, but from his figures it seems that he may even be an upgrade on Mesut Ozil, who’s assist stats declined massively last season, despite having Alexis Sanchez on the receiving end of his passes instead of Olivier Giroud (most of the time!) Lemar has played mostly on the wing this season, but it looks like the Number Ten position would be perfect for him.

Most pundits, though, still believe that Ozil will sign an extension with Arsenal, and there is some speculation that Lemar would be replacing Oxlade-Chamberlain, who is also yet to sign a contract extension and is being heavily linked with a move to Liverpool. Wenger has stated that it would be a ‘disaster’ for Arsenal if the Ox left, but surely the Arsenal fans may not mind so much if Lemar was brought in as a replacement.

Watch his brilliance for Monaco last season and decide for yourself….

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37 Comments

    1. President Jean Aulas of Lyon:

      “Lemar wants to stay with us.. uhm, no wait, who? Does he play for us..? Sacre bleu! Well anything for a face in the paper, oue!”

  1. Hope we can simply here transfer confirmation instead of rumors that link us with every possible player. Pre-season starts soon and except Kolasinac we haven’t seen much movement in or out. Dunno what Wenger is planning but let’s hope that it is something good.

  2. I think he may be more of a Wilshere or Santi replacement. He is also better on left side of field where Santi would line up…Wish Arsenal would confirm some interest in players. Rather than going off rumours.

  3. I don’t think he is a replacement for either Chamberlain or Ozil. In my opinion, Chamberlain’s best position is right wingback, and Lemar is not a wingback.

    No other clubs seem to be interested in Ozil. But Sanchez might leave, so Lemar might replace Sanchez, which is a bigger disaster than letting Chamberlain go.

    Ideally Sanchez and Chamberlain stay, Ozil leaves, then Lemar and Aubameyang or Lacazette comes. Arsenal need to get rid all passengers in the field that like to play safe in the field.

    Hopefully Lemar is not the one that likes to play safe in the field. We already have many players that like to play safe by just touching the ball with one or two touches, then quickly releasing the ball to the back, to avoid injuries and to avoid the blames for losing the ball.

  4. Just remember folks…Arshavin, and Gervinho, looked just as good, if not better, in Youtube compilations. Even Ramsey can look good in a highlights form.

    Hopefully Lemar is quality, and I’ve been impressed from what I’ve seen watching him over 90 mins, not brief highlights. Maybe an Ozil replacement, as it would be crazy to give Ozil nearly 300k p/w! He goes missing in big games, and what motivation will he have to improve, what with a new fat contract under his belt, and the fact he knows Wenger will NEVER drop him?

      1. Giroud refused to go when he learnt of Lemar interest 🙂

        In all seriousness his free kicks are delicious – Giroud and Welbeck licking their lips

  5. I do not think he will be a replacement for either, I think he will be comp for Ozil and a player that will hopefully help convince Alexis we mean to be ambitious.

    Rumors are that RM are not in for MBappe yet, the president highlighted how they prefer to sign players who have more than a single season of doing well, Zidane didn’t join till he was mature and we can look at CR9 and Bale to see the other record signings have done it for more than a single season.
    The RM president said that it would take Zidane to say he would use the kid and play him regularly if RM was to consider bidding for him.

    We have read about how Wenger is in with MBappes family, now unless Wengers single life has got to him and MBappes parents are swingers then it could be towards the transfer.
    Also read Wenger hopes that signing Lemar might help convince MBappe to join us…

    I do not know who we will end up signing but I will say this, AFC has surprised us fans more than once with transfers, who thought we would drop £42.5 mil on Ozil? Who thought we would sign Xhaka as fast as we did or who thought we would take our time to save a few million?

    Maybe Lacazette was all a smokescreen for MBappe, they all knew we wouldn’t believe it so they gave us the Lacazette rumor to focus on… XD

    1. Yeh, they surprised me when Wenger was given a new contract.

      Everything is possible of course, but that does not mean it’s probable.

      As per every season we wait, and wait, and …

      Let’s hope there is a real plan and not the usual reactive (as opposed to proactive) and penny pinching strategy.

    2. I don’t know why but if we are letting Sanchez leave for Mancity I would take Aguero anyday over lacazette and go all out for Mbappe. We might end up with a stronger team if we can keep Aguero fit.

  6. I have been saying it for the last 2 years that ozil is a average player he has one year remaining on is contract and seem not to be very happy with the situation at arsenal so why is there not one offers for him not even not even a rumor what top ten in club in Europe can you play for maybe on the bench he doesn’t fit the new system so get rid of him Riyad mahrez is a better fit for where ozil going to play he take on defender dribble shoot pass on score 150 a week salary would be good enough for him instead of 300 for Ozil

    1. He doesn’t deserve 300K but saying he’s average is deceiving yourself.Why didn’t Arsenal sell him after 15/16 season?Also if no top club is interested in Ozil let’s wait and see the club he’ll move to when he leaves on a free transfer.I guess it won’t be a top club then.People speak as if it’s only Ozil in Arsenal that teams are not interested in.If Ozil is sold then I don’t see why players like Giroud,Walcott and the like should remain here.

      1. Yeah, people use that too much, I’m left thinking do they even know what average means.

        Are they saying, compared to all players and at every club from the top, right down to the bottom leagues, because then not one PL player would be average.

        Or are they saying PL, he is an average PL player, an average PL club would be a club finishing 8,9,10,11,12, clubs finishing within those places would be average PL standards. So you’d have to get the number of players in total before you can decide how close to average he is, and you’ll have to have watched those players in more than just highlights or versus ourselves.

        Or are the saying, CL, he is an average CL player. An average CL player is better than the majority of PL players.

        I’m not a huge fan of Ozil, but I know he cannot be described as an average player. For one thing, he is too dissimilar compared to all other players. What Ozil does well, he is great at. His best qualities are uniquely not average. The stuff that he’s bad at, he’s worse than average at that stuff. Whether it’s PL or CL players we are talking about.

        1. Could not have put it better. We need a system which can cover his deficiencies. His strengths are what we should focus on. But still 300K ? I would say anything around 200K is max we should be offering him.

  7. As he’s a left flank attacker mostly, I’d say he’s a replacement for Sanchez.
    I’d also say that our top striker will be none other than Giroud. Yes, he will be like a new signing, because in the light of his international form, Wenger hails him as a top striker and by awarding him a new contract and promised playing time presents him as the “new signing”.
    Of course, I fully expect Ox to leave as Wenger has his favorite step son playing the midfielder role. So we have Bellerin, Iwoby and Walcott battling it out for the right wing, which is not that bad, considering this way they’ll miss out on being complacent as they were in previous seasons (Walcott in particular).

  8. This windows different wengers disappeared.
    Unlike other windows on the beach an being a pundit or going to.effing Rome
    Have to assume he’s busy brokering deals

    Lemar would be a fantastic addition
    If we keep ox sanchez etc of course bonus

    This could finally be the window we wanted
    After how many bloody years

  9. I wrote it in previous articles that Mbape has done little yet and is too young to warrant all the media hype and alleged over 100 million pound bid bandied by the media. I also said that previous record transfers were players who had proven themselves across seasons and not teenagers with a brilliant half season. Now Real Madrid’s Perez has said same thing that Mbape is still too young and unproven.

    Another fact from his interview confirms my earlier stance that no such outrageous bids have been made by any club as claimed by the media. Perez has said they haven’t made a bid and may not actually (he’s too young and unproven). I wrote here that Monaco would be stupid not to snap the hands of any club that offers them anything upwards of 70 million and cash in. If they keep Mbape and he doesn’t perform next season then they would have a huge regret. Again, even if he performs next season no player yet is going to be bought for 120 million pounds so how much more can they sell him for. This is the reason I maintain my stance that the fees mentioned in the media are all made up. Monaco would have sold him long ago without blinking an eye.

    1. That’s Real for you. They sold Higuain for about 30m, he later goes on and fetches 90m. They paid 80m for Bale, who was young and never won anything.

      How much did Neymar go for, he was a kid who never proved himself over seasons, and never played in Europe before joining Barca.

      This kid looks the real deal, the same way as a young Neymar did. I think Bale would have looked it too only for some fool had him at fullback. All the ingredients are there, all of them, along with the brain where it matters most. He sounds confident and determined.

      You need to also realize, with Madrid, they like the circus that goes with a record breaking transfer. It means they get a bigger payday, allot more than what the spent. Players profile, Madrid own the rights to him. I think they get all or most of it.

      1. You’re wrong. Bale was already 24, had been consecutively nominated in premier league team of the year for 3 seasons, won PFA Player’s Player of the Year for 2 seasons (01/11, 12/13) among many other individual prices. The fact that he’s in a team that didn’t win anything then can’t be an argument about his worth or qaulity. Football is no table tenis where you win things by yourself. Many average players win a lot merely by being in a winning team. Many great players won little.

        On Neymar you’re equally wrong. He was already 21, phenomenal and Mbape is no where near the level Neymar was before. Before then he had won successive Campeonato Paulista championships, a Copa do Brasil, and the 2011 Copa Libertadores, Santos’ first continental title since 1963. With Brazil he had won Olympic Silver medal 2012 and FIFA Confederations Cup 2013. Neymar was twice named the South American Footballer of the Year, in 2011 and 2012, before relocating to Europe to join Barcelona.

        Mbape I repeat has not proven anything yet like Bale and Neymar before their record transfers. An interesting prospect he is but he’s got much to prove before shattering transfer records.

        1. I said he was young and didn’t win anything, unlike Mbappe. But that it would have happened earlier for him if he wasn’t being played as a fullback. He only played two seasons as a forward before Madrid paid 80m for him.

          1. Neymar, you are wrong, completely wrong. Google Barcelona buy Neymar. You’ll see articles about Barca buying an unproven teenager, and paying allot more for him than what was first reported. Close to 90m in the end. Teenager when they bought him dude.

  10. I read an ESPN article about Lemar and they said he could be described best as a tall Santi Cazorla. Santi played on the wing when we bought him, he could play both and through the middle just like Lemar. Espn said he’s good at coming deep and starting off attacks, that’s what Santi done before we put him back there. He scores and assists. The lad sounds like he could be a good signing, esp seeing as you’d expect him to improve.

  11. This Lemar looks like Campbell with his left leg and runs. His French nationality will keep him off the bench though.

    Good luck Wenger, Lemar, Fans

  12. Lemar plays left wing, he is a replacement for Sanchez. Ozil will stay because he hasn’t received any offers from bigger clubs and the Ox will stay on as a right wingback.

  13. Ozil is a perfect definition of a overhyped player… If he is dat good dere should be hearing top club wanting his signature just like As.. Even spurs won’t take him if arsenal give dem for free cause they already have Eriksen dier chief provider

  14. Apparently AW scouted him before, but when he was at Caen with Kante, but deemed them both not good enough (or whatever reason he had for not getting them?) so I’m wondering if he would go back and pay 30m+ for Lemar now, after he could’ve had him for change? And also it would be admitting that he was wrong, would Wenger do that? Lol
    Hopefully AW puts his pride aside and his wallet out haha

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