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Arsenal free to sign French star in £55m deal

By on July 23, 2017

According to the Daily Star, Monaco have paved the way for Arsenal to finally land Thomas Lemar as long as we meet their £55m asking price.

Arsene Wenger has been strongly pursuing the French international this summer but we’ve found it difficult to get a deal agreed with Monaco as they are reluctant to sell any more of their title-winning squad.

Several of the team that landed the Ligue 1 title last season have left the South of France this summer so understandably Leonardo Jardim is desperate not to lose any more of his key men.

The Sun reported last week that Lemar was keen to join Arsenal and we remained hopeful of getting a £45m deal agreed after seeing two previous offers knocked back.

There were reports suggesting that Monaco had slapped an £80m price-tag on Lemar’s head in an attempt to scare Arsenal off but thankfully Wenger continued to pursue the attacker.

It seems the French outfit are now ready to do business as the Daily Star claim Monaco will reluctantly sell Lemar to Arsenal as long as we meet their new £55m valuation.

It remains to be seen whether Wenger will be prepared to meet that asking price but given we were reportedly willing to pay in excess of £45m, I think it’s fair to assume we’ll be able to get a deal agreed now Monaco have lowered their valuation to a more realistic level.

We have ample funds left over in the transfer kitty and Wenger will see the coffers boosted by the sales of several fringe players over the coming weeks so we can certainly afford to splash out on signing Lemar.

Let’s hope we can get a deal agreed swiftly as the 21-year-old would be a hugely exciting addition to the squad. Lemar played a key role in helping Monaco lift the title last season after scoring 14 goals and setting up a further 17 so he’ll add some real creativity to the attack.

READ: Arsenal to make huge offer for Spanish star

My only concern is his main position is on the left side of a front three so he could be lined-up as a potential replacement for Alexis Sanchez – who’s still being strongly linked with PSG.