Liverpool and Arsenal battle it out for €100m Monaco star Lemar
LONDON: Thomas Lemar is ready to join Liverpool as a replacement for Philippe Coutinho, but the English Premier League club are refusing to meet AS Monaco’s asking price for the France international for the second transfer window running.
Arsenal — who agreed a summer deadline-day fee of €95 million ($115 million) for Lemar in August — remain interested in signing the 22-year-old as Alexis Sanchez prepares to leave the London club.
Conscious of the sharply rising value of creative players and goalscorers in an already inflated transfer market, Monaco are confident of securing at least €100 million for Lemar. The Ligue 1 club has grossed record income on player sales in recent windows and are ready to retain Lemar until the summer in the knowledge that all of England’s leading teams are looking to sign attacking midfielders ahead of next season.
According to sources close to the player, Liverpool have courted Lemar for months and their interest contributed to his decision to reject Arsenal in the summer window. While Arsenal offered around €20 million more than Liverpool as they scrambled to secure a successor to Sanchez, they were unable to convince Lemar to make a last-minute switch to a club outside the Champions League.
Despite securing a Premier League record fee of €120 million with €40 million of performancerelated variable for Coutinho, Liverpool will not pay above what the club consider a reasonable valuation of Lemar.
Liverpool’s reluctance to pay €100 million to Monaco for Lemar may see the Anfield club switch to alternative targets. Jurgen Klopp drove a failed summer 2016 bid for Christian Pulisic; both the Liverpool manager and the club’s American ownership retain a strong interest in a player Klopp promoted to Borussia Dortmund’s first-team squad as a 16-year-old.
Pulisic’s popularity in the US adds to his attractiveness to Liverpool from a commercial perspective, with Fenway Sports Group holding a long-standing desire to sign an American player. Dortmund do not want to sell in January and are well-placed to benefit from a multi-club bidding war should they agree to let Pulisic go at the end of the season.
Manchester United have included both Pulisic and Lemar on a shortlist of a potential attacking recruits, along with Bordeaux’s Brazil youth international Malcom, whom Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur also want. If an agreement can be reached on transfer fee and personal terms, however, Jose Mourinho’s immediate objective is to exploit the “fantastic opportunity” to secure Sanchez.
Reaching a deal with Arsenal and Sanchez would keep the Chile international out of the hands of Manchester City while significantly improving Mourinho’s options at striker and across the second line of United’s attack.
“What we believe really is that there are some players in football world, if you have a chance to sign them — it doesn’t matter if it is in January, in March or in July — you have to try,” said Mourinho on Friday.
Sanchez was omitted from Arsenal’s squad to face Bournemouth on Sunday as speculation mounts over a January transfer to United or City. The 29-year-old did not even travel to the south coast for the lunchtime kick-off, with Gunners boss Arsene Wenger admitting he was left at home over his unresolved future. “He’s being vague, we have left him at home because of the situation,” Wenger told Sky Sports. “I still don’t know what is going to happen. Half in half out, you never know this kind of situation during the transfer period. That is why I decided to focus on the game.”