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What’s the story?
A number of UK newspapers including the Metro, the Sun, the Independent and the Express are reporting that Arsenal has agreed on personal terms, including a financial package of £90,000-a-week, with Ligue-1 winning midfielder Thomas Lemar of AS Monaco. The Gunners have been linked with the midfielder for quite some time now – and as their (club) record-breaking capture of Alexandre Lacazette has shown, they are not short of ambition this summer.
In case you didn’t know...
Thomas Lemar is quite a versatile midfielder who is comfortable playing across the park – be it on either wing, the centre of the park, or even in a free role which he has donned on occasion for Monaco. Though predominantly left-footed he is a member of the rare breed of Ambi pedals (i.e. he is comfortable playing off either foot) and is excellent on set-pieces.
Signed from Caen for just £4 million, the Frenchman (who has represented his home nation across categories including, U17, U18, U19, U20, U21 and the senior team) has been quite sensational for Monaco this season. The 21-year-old banged in 14 goals as the Principality club romped to the Ligue 1 title and the UEFA Champions League semifinals off the backs of their young attacking talent.
The heart of the matter
While the reports suggest that personal terms have been agreed, they are not so positive when talking about the transfer fee. Arsenal earlier had a £30 million offer rejected by the French club following which they upped the ante to £40 million this past week. That too has met with a stony response as Monaco continue to hold out for the £80 million they value him at.
The Guadeloupe-born player is one of the bunch of promising French talents – including Anthony Martial, Ousmane Dembele, Kylian Mbappe; all of whom are threatening to break some transfer record or the other this summer – and Arsenal may yet have to break their own transfer record once again if they are to land him this season.
Video
Lemar working his magic:
The lad can play, alright!
Author’s Take
£80 million for Thomas Lemar? What’s the footballing world coming to?
Hopefully, in case he is moving, Arsenal and Monaco can agree on a far more sensible rate for the quality midfielder who will definitely add value to a burgeoning Arsenal side that’s packing itself with offensive talent.
On a side note, the hounding/picking off of Monaco’s best talents, and spectacularly rapid unravelling of a League winning team continues to be depressing.
