8 Potential Transfers That Will Shape Premier League Title Race

5. Thomas Lemar To Liverpool/Arsenal

Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez gestures toward the assistant referee as he disputes a decision during their English Premier League soccer match between Arsenal and Swansea City at the Emirates stadium in London, Monday,May 11, 2015. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant
By Дмитрий Голубович (soccer.ru) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0), CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Thomas Lemar’s name has populated the back-page gossip columns all summer after he attracted admirers with his performances for Monaco last season.

The Ligue 1 overachievers have already seen the young squad which reached the semi-finals of the Champions League ripped apart, losing Benjamin Mendy and Bernardo Silva to Manchester City and Tiémoué Bakayoko to Chelsea. Wonderkid striker Kylian Mbappe also seems poised to leave for PSG.

They have shown brave resistance thus far in their attempts to hold onto Lemar, despite Barcelona, Arsenal, and Liverpool all being credited with an interest in the left winger, who scored 14 goals in all competitions last season. The Reds have seen two sizeable bids rejected this week, according to Sky Sports.

Yet Monaco have shown this summer that every player has a price. Barcelona’s capture of Ousmane Dembele may leave the path clear for Arsenal and Liverpool to scrap over the 21-year-old. He would add to Liverpool’s firepower, but it is Arsenal for whom Lemar would be a difference-making signing. He would lift some of the gloom surrounding the Gunners and show they still mean business.

Contributor
Contributor

Sports Journalism graduate. Writer on football, WWE, film and TV. The greatest TV show ever is The West Wing, and the greatest footballer ever is Harry Kane. One of those claims carries greater weight than the other. Disagree? Discuss with me on Twitter @JoeFish08