Thomas Lemar rejects £92m Arsenal transfer due to lack of Champions League football

Collapse: Arsenal failed with a transfer-record-smashing £92m bid
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James Olley31 August 2017

Arsenal’s £92million move for Thomas Lemar appears to have collapsed after the Monaco winger indicated he was unwilling to play for a Europa League club.

Standard Sport understands the Gunners made a dramatic increase on two previous offers tabled this summer – the highest of which was around £50m – with a bid of £75m plus a further £17m in add-ons.

Monaco are believed to have put the proposal to Lemar but he snubbed Arsenal’s interest primarily due to his preference to continue playing in the Champions League.

Lemar is thought to have been open to a move to Liverpool but the Anfield club have, so far at least, refused to meet that valuation.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger described the deal as “dead” last week after believing Monaco had sold too many players.

However, the Gunners reignited their interest after softening their stance over selling Alexis Sanchez to Manchester City.

City have made an improved offer worth £60m but the Gunners would only sanction a sale if they could bring in a replacement and quickly turned to Lemar.

Arsenal also enquired about Paris Saint-Germain’s Julian Draxler and – somewhat bizarrely – Everton’s Ross Barkley but it appears too late in the day to succeed with another move now.

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City could yet make one final attempt to land Sanchez by increasing their offer. Arsenal are also open to including Raheem Sterling or Sergio Aguero as part of a deal for Sanchez but City are understood to have now dismissed that out of hand.

Should City fail to find an agreement, Sanchez will be forced to return to Arsenal following his engagements on international duty with Chile.