Arsenal want to break the bank for Thomas Lemar
Arsene Wenger may not be willing to pay Alexis Sanchez the wages he so desperately covets, but Arsenal are willing to meet Thomas Lemar’s outrageous wage demands. The news of what the Gunners are willing to pay the Monaco star will only increase the tension between the club and their Chilean talisman.
English sources claim that Arsenal are confident they can land the French attacker for a transfer fee of somewhere around £92 million. That isn’t the most shocking figure in the report though. It also claims that Wenger and company will hand Lemar a wage packet of £250 thousand per week.
Expect that news to send shock waves through the Arsenal dressing room. Alexis and his representatives will certainly use that as a benchmark for their negotiations with the club. Learning that a relatively unproven commodity like Lemar will be paid so handsomely will only embolden Alexis’ demands.
This report could also have a dramatic impact on Mesut Ozil’s chances of signing a new deal. It’s been the commonly held belief that eventually he and Arsenal would work out a deal for him to stay. The lack of progress on a deal has begun to eat away at that spirit of optimism. Learning that Lemar has been offered such a prodigious sum will have a serious impact on Ozil’s wage demands as well.
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It’s very possible that officials at the club have already elected to turn the page on the era of Alexis, and perhaps Ozil, at Arsenal. If so, they could do much worse than adding a player of Lemar’s age and obvious talent.
He’s precisely the sort of player the club should be looking to sign. Whether or not they should be interested in Lemar at his current asking price is a completely different question. That’s something only Wenger and club ownership can answer accurately.
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In the end, most Arsenal fans will view this report positively because it reflects the club’s ambition. Time will tell whether or not it’s a wise course forward. Ambition for its own sake will only deepen the Gunners’ problems.