Arsenal, Liverpool In Pole Position To Sign £80m International Star

The transfer window may be closed but clubs are still working hard ahead of January and next summer so we’ll bring you all the latest gossip from around the globe. Today, Arsenal and Liverpool have been boosted in their pursuit of Thomas Lemar….

Arsenal and Liverpool have been handed a huge boost in their pursuit of Thomas Lemar after Bayern Munich pulled out of the race to sign the £80m-rated Monaco star, according to Football London.

Lemar emerged as one of the hottest young attacking talents in Europe after providing 14 goals and 17 assists to help fire Monaco to the Ligue 1 title last season.

The French international caught the attention of clubs here in the Premier League with Arsenal and Liverpool strongly linked with the 21-year-old throughout the summer transfer window.

Monaco vice-president Vadim Vasilyev confirmed earlier this month that while Liverpool showed a keen interest, it was Arsenal who came closest to securing a deal to sign Lemar but the Gunners left it too late to wrap-up a big-money deal.

Vasilyev also revealed that while the winger is continuing to be linked with a move during the winter window, the French champions are more likely to cash-in next summer.

He’s quoted as saying by the Mirror last week:

“Liverpool were really interested. 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.

“[But] definitely next summer 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 because of X, Y, Z.

“I think it would be fair to say Thomas will have a fair chance to 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.

“January doesn’t seem like the right time for major changes in the team.”

Arsenal and Liverpool are being tipped to renew their interest in Lemar but it looked as though they faced stiff competition from Bayern Munich with speculation suggesting the Bundesliga giants were also keen to lure him to Germany.

However, the duo have been handed a major boost as Football London cite a report from Kicker that claims Bayern have now pulled out of the race to sign Lemar due to Monaco’s £80.3m [€90m) valuation.

The report says this leaves Arsenal and Liverpool in pole position with the Premier League pair now expected to go head-to-head to land Lemar at the end of the season.

Arsene Wenger is going to need to rejuvenate his attack with Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil set to leave while Jurgen Klopp may be in the market for a replacement for Philippe Coutinho if he’s eventually lured to Barcelona.

READ MORE –> Arsenal transfer news | Liverpool transfer news

I think Lemar would be a sensational signing for either club and I’d love to see him plying his trade here in England next season so it’s going to be interesting to see how things develop over the coming months.