Arsenal set to launch another bid for Monaco star Thomas Lemar… but how much will he cost?
Gunners failed in a £90million bid for the Frenchman in the summer, but will turn their attention to the forward once more
THOMAS LEMAR appears to be an Arsenal transfer target once more, with reports claiming they are set to make a move once again for the Frenchman.
The Gunners had a bid of £90million for the midfielder fall through on deadline day last summer, but they would surely pay much less now.
So how much could they pay for the 22-year-old? Our friends at Football Whispers take a look.
There is little doubt that £90m deadline day bid was inflated due to it being the last few hours of the transfer window.
Arsenal had to bid so much to get Monaco to consider selling as it looked like Manchester City transfer target Alexis Sanchez was on his way to the Etihad for around £60m, meaning the French champions knew Arsenal had money to spend.
But the Chilean’s move fell through, so Arsenal didn’t have that money in the bank.
What’s more, Lemar is yet to hit the heights of last season, when he was one of the best players in Europe as Monaco won Ligue 1 and reached the Champions League semi-finals.
He was a key player in heir success, managing nine league goals and ten assists in 2016/17.
So far this campaign, he’s contributed just two goals and three assists in Ligue 1.
The number of goals he’s been directly involved in per 90 minutes has gone down from 0.65 last season to 0.47 so far this season.
He’s also creating fewer chances per 90 – 2.33, compared to 2.41.
What’s more, he is down on last season for expected goals (xG) – the amount of goals he would be expected to have scored from the chances he’s had – as well as his expected assists (xA) – the amount of goals expected to be scored from the chances he’s created.
Per 90, his xG is 0.13, from 0.22 last season, while his xA is 0.21, compared to 0.3. He’s clearly had a drop off in form, and that will affect his value.
Another factor is that Monaco are also nowhere near the side they were last season. They’ve had a big drop-off in the league, and it’s almost certain they won’t defend their title.
Last weekend they went down 2-1 to Paris Saint-Germain, with the capital club dominating in France, having only dropped two points all season.
That loss saw Monaco fall to third, nine points behind PSG, which already looks an unassailable lead.
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Perhaps that wouldn’t be such a disaster if their Champions League campaign hadn’t completely fallen apart either.
With one game left, they not only cannot reach the knockout stages, they can’t even fall back into the Europa League stage.
Despite avoiding the big European giants, Monaco have just two points from their first five games, in a group that consists of them, Besiktas, Porto and Leipzig.
And that poor performance both domestically in Europe will put them at a bigger risk of losing their stars that remain at the club, like Lemar and Fabinho.
And only last month, Monaco vice-president Vadim Vasilyev admitted Lemar could leave the club, and came close to a departure in the summer.
“Liverpool were really interested,” Vasilyev told Sky Sports.
“But it was Arsenal that was really close to finalising the deal. It was quite close. At the same time it was just too late, not enough time to really follow up on this deal.
“Not all the elements of the puzzle fell in place. I'm very happy he stayed with us. For us, we need a player like Thomas Lemar. He's very important to our team.
“Definitely next summer it will be something to look at, although you know in football there are no guarantees.
“We had some players who were supposed to leave this summer but didn't leave because of X, Y, Z.
"I think it would be fair to say Thomas will have a fair chance to an exit next year.
“January? In football, never say never, but this is not what we're thinking of, this is really not in our plans.
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“Then we have to wait and see how the team does in different competitions, if we have an interest in him and what his ambitions after the World Cup are.
"January doesn't seem like the right time for major changes in the team.”
While that may be the case, Monaco were still competing on two fronts then. They aren’t now. Above all, though, he refused to rule a sale out completely.
That will work against Monaco who have effectively admitted they are willing to sell and have shown their hand.
Lemar still won’t come cheap. But a bid of around £60m, two-thirds of what Arsenal offered in the summer, would definitely persuade Monaco to consider selling.
At the start of the transfer window, that was the asking price for the midfielder, but the Gunners failed to make their move until later on.
His stock definitely hasn’t risen since then, so there is no reason why he shouldn’t be valued at that price once again.