Arsenal plan fourth bid for AS Monaco Ace

Premier League giants Arsenal are expected to lodge a renewed bid to sign AS Monaco attacker Thomas Lemar this summer.


The Gunners have maintained their interest in the France international over the past month despite Monaco insisting that the player is not for sale. According to The Mail, the north London club will table a fourth bid for the highly-rated winger after they initial offers worth £35m, £40m and £45m were knocked back by the French champions.

Lemar has dropped numerous hints that he could be off to the Emirates this summer with the latest being his like on an Instagram post by Alexandre Lacazette. The Gunners are well equipped with options on either wing, but Wenger is still keen to recruit the attacker with the likes of Alexis Sanchez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain linked with potential exits before this month's transfer deadline.

Danny Welbeck can also do a job on the left side of the attack, but Wenger more or less sees him as an option up front where his pace and positional versatility could be used as a decoy to push his teammates further forward. Wenger has relied on the 3-4-2-1 formation during pre-season following the success last term and this rather reduces the importance of a wideman unless the manager has thoughts of tweaking his setup once more.

Lemar amassed an appreciable tally of 14 goals and 14 assists for the Principality outfit last season as they secured their first Ligue 1 crown since 2000. The 21-year-old also played an influential role for Leonardo Jardim's side who beat the likes of Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund enroute to their semi-final appearance in the Champions League.

Monaco have also three of last season's key performers in Bernardo Silva, Tiemoue Bakayoko and Benjamin Mendy to English clubs, and this is likely to make Arsenal's pursuit more difficult with the Ligue 1 holders determined to keep hold of the likes of Lemar and Fabinho ahead of what could be a tough title defence with Paris Saint-Germain on the verge of signing Neymar.