French outlet Le 10 Sport is claiming that Ligue 1 side Monaco and English giant Liverpool are closing in on an agreement in principle for attacking midfielder Thomas Lemar. Last summer, Arsenal were reportedly after the 22-year-old French international, as a potential replacement for Alexis Sanchez who the Gunners were coming close to sending to Manchester City at the time.
Of course, it was reported then that Lemar was actually not interested in moving to the Emirates, and once the north London side finally figured that out, the Sanchez deal fell apart.
Liverpool have also been linked to Thomas Lemar for quite some time, and this deal, if it goes through, looks like an attempt to replace Brazilian forward Philippe Coutinho, who was sold to Barcelona in January for a whopping £142 million. Lemar, according to reports, would cost in excess of £70 or £80m, but would obviously still leave a ton of money remaining from the Coutinho financial windfall.
When Coutinho was sold, the Reds’ attacking “fab four” (everybody has to make Beatles references regarding Liverpool, of course) was downgraded to a fab three: Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah. Perhaps the acquisition of Thomas Lemar would complete the quartet again, as Lemar accumulated 14 goals and 14 assists across all competitions last season.
Or maybe not, as Lemar has actually struggled quite a bit this season, as his productivity has declined. Liverpool have other more pressing needs to address in the summer transfer window of course, but if they can get a great deal here, they should definitely take it.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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