AS Monaco were one of the best teams in Europe last season. Many stars were born out of the campaign which saw them win the Ligue 1 and reach the semi-finals in the Champions League. Such form saw many bids coming in for their players. Several players such as Tieme Bakayoko, Bernardo Silva, Benjamin Mendy have left the club in search of pastures new whereas Kylian Mbappe continues to be linked with a move away from the French club.
Thomas Lemar too was one of the stand-out performers for the Stade Louis II team, registering several assists and a healthy amount of goals too. He too has been linked with a move away from the club. A move to Arsenal was on the cards earlier in the season, but nothing has come of it until now. The fee Monaco are expecting in exchange for his services is deemed to be too high for Arsene Wenger, who revealed that Monaco had already closed the transfer door. (Source: ESPN)
Arsenal are in need of some attacking impetus in order to strengthen their front line. The Gunners have looked hit and miss in the first two games and improvements are needed if they desire to have a good campaign ahead. If Thomas Lemar’s arrival gets out of reach, they should look to bring in one of these two players –
Emil Forsberg
The RB Leipzig winger is a suitable alternative to Thomas Lemar as he has got the quality to deliver fantastic through balls, crosses just like Lemar. The Swede is likely to cost around the same as Lemar, around the 45 million mark. He would be an exquisite purchase for an Arsenal side who have missed the exuberance of Santi Cazorla plus Ozil’s mediocre form should see them purchase another assist-giver.
It would be difficult to prise him away from the club though, as the club have Champions League commitments to look forward to. Unlike Monaco, they haven’t lost their important components and would likely shun away any sort of bids for him. But Arsenal should give it a shot in case they fail in their pursuit of Thomas Lemar.
Julian Brandt
Bayer Leverkusen had a disastrous 2016/17 campaign only staving off relegation in the last few weeks of the season. One plus point was the industrious performances of Julian Brandt whose exploits kept the club up. His performances saw him garner the attention from Liverpool before they brought in Egyptian Mohamed Salah.
Brandt is a fantastic alternative to Lemar as he plays a similar sort of role to Lemar, being able to make and score goals himself. Brandt is still 21 and has plenty of years ahead of him, Arsenal should look to sign him up right now because good performances for Leverkusen could see him being sent on the flight to Russia for the World Cup 2018, after which his stock could rise. Of the two, he could be the cheaper and better option to target.