Not even a day after L’Equipe broke the news of an £87 million Arsenal bid for the Monaco wonderkid Kylian Mbappe, the ever-reliable French media outlet has once again linked the Gunners with a raid on the French champions, with the subject of interest this time around being Thomas Lemar, who is understood to be looking for a move away from France this summer.
The Frenchman played a pivotal role in Monaco going all the way to the French title this season, having contributed nine goals and 10 assists in 34 Ligue 1 appearances. L’Equipe further claim that Arsenal not having Champions League football will not be too much of a problem as the player will look to develop under Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, who has a reputation of nurturing young talent, especially in regards to Frenchmen!
Although primarily a midfielder, Lemar has enjoyed great success playing on the left-wing for Monaco, so much so that he earned a place in the Ligue 1 Team of the Season and also earned himself a call-up to Didier Deschamps’ France squad. With so much momentum behind the player, perhaps the next big step would be to move to England and develop further under the watchful eye of the Arsenal boss.
Considering that it is L’Equipe that is the source of this story, it would safe to say that the story has a fair bit of credibility to it. Moreover, Thomas Lemar has all the hallmarks of a typical Arsene Wenger signing – he’s young, agile, French and with a valuation understood to be around £26 million, the now French international will not be very expensive either.
In my opinion, this is a deal that is more likely to actually happen in comparison with the deal involving Mbappe. While it is extremely unlikely that the club will land both players, a potential double-swoop of the spine of Monaco’s title-winning team will be the perfect start to the transfer window for Arsene Wenger, who has supposedly been warned by the board to finalise his transfer deals early on this summer.
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