Monaco chief Vadim Vasilyev has claimed that Thomas Lemar did want to leave the club for Arsenal or Liverpool, before he convinced him to stay.
Les Rouges et Blancs went on a selling spree this summer, after a thoroughly impressive season in which they dominated the French division, as well as reaching the semi-final of the Champions League competition.
A number of clubs have come in for their key players of the previous campaign, and Monaco have allowed many of them to leave, including Kylian Mbappe, Benjamin Mendy, Thiemioue Bakayoko and Bernardo Silva among those to be sold.
Thomas Lemar was the subject of a number of bids supposedly by Arsenal and Liverpool, and the former had a late offer accepted by his club, before the French international decided he wished to stay put instead.
Vasilyev has now revealed that the player did in fact want to move to one of Arsenal or Liverpool, until he convinced him that he should stay.
“It was not easy. Thomas wanted to go to Arsenal and to Liverpool, but we had discussions and we took a communal decision so that he could stay here,” he said.
“He is a very important player for us.
“We could not have sold him, it would have affected the entire team and the individuals.”
Strange to insist that they couldn’t have sold him after accepting our offer, but this must simply be an afterthought.
The 21 year-old is set for a bright future in the game, already making his mark for his country, and Arsene Wenger has already confirmed that he will be looking to persuade the wonderkid to join us in one of the coming windows.
Is Lemar worth a British Record transfer fee? Will we beat Liverpool to his signature come January?
Pat J