When it comes to Arsenal transfer stories and news, there are not many journalists out there who are more reliable than David Ornstein of the BBC and Jeremy Wilson of the Telegraph. Unfortunately for Arsenal fans, Ornstein reckons Arsenal’s chances of signing Thomas Lemar from AS Monaco this summer are now very slim.
Arsenal growing less optimistic of signing Lemar. Still trying but other Monaco exits reduce chances. Intention remains to keep Sanchez #AFC
— David Ornstein (@bbcsport_david) July 17, 2017
Lemar has been strongly linked with a move to Arsenal for the past fortnight. The Gunners are said to have had two or three bids (depending on which reports you believe) rejected by Monaco for the 21-year-old. According to David Ornstein’s Tweet above, the French champions do not want to lose any more players having sold the likes of Bernando Silva to Manchester City and Tiemoue Bakayoko to Chelsea already this summer.
This news, if true, will be a massive blow for Arsenal. Signing Lemar could have been a massive coup for Arsenal. The French international would certainly be a big upgrade on Theo Walcott down the right flank and he is versatile enough to play in the Santi Cazorla role also.
However, if Arsenal do fail to get Lemar, they will only have themselves to blame. They had the chance to move for him before the likes of Chelsea and City got their own targets from Monaco, but delayed. The delay in my opinion is a result of Arsenal’s well-known tendency to want to be smart with a few pennies in the transfer market.
It will remain to be seen whom Arsène Wenger will go for if he fails to get Lemar but my guess is that he will “trust” Walcott to deliver. Which to me would be foolish. No disrespect to Walcott but the fact is, since joining Arsenal, he has been average. He has good stats but most of the time he is average and for a player reportedly earning £110,000-a-week, Arsenal deserve more.
One player I would like Arsenal to go for is Emil Forsberg of RB Leipzig. The Swede scored nine goals and created 19 assists in the German Bundesliga last season. He was one of RB Leipzig’s best players in the 2016/2017 season. At just 25 years old, he is only just entering his peak years. Forsberg is likely to be available for around £30 million this summer and may be easier to sign than Lemar.
