Arsenal must make ‘important’ offer to land transfer target Thomas Lemar

Arsenal must make an ‘important’ offer if they are to sign Thomas Lemar from Atletico Madrid next month, according to reports from Spain.

New Gunners boss Mikel Arteta is believed to be looking for a winger, with Pepe having under-performed so far, while Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang has been linked with a move away from the Emirates.

Lemar is contracted to Atletico until 2023, but Arsenal have been encouraged by the fact he has not been a regular starter under Diego Simeone.

However, AS says Atletico would only sell the 24-year-old if Arsenal showed they were willing to splash the cash with an ‘important’ offer.

Lemar was on the Gunners’ radar when he was catching the eye at Monaco in 2018, and came very close to signing for the north London club.

But Atletico Madrid beat the Gunners to the punch, and landed Lemar for a whopping £53million in the summer transfer window.

Things started out well for the France international in Spain.

But this season has been a challenge, with Lemar having failed to score a single goal in 15 La Liga appearances this campaign.

It is not clear how much Atletico would consider to be an ‘important’ offer – but having signed Lemar only six months ago, they will not want to be willing to sell on the cheap.

Arsenal boss Arteta is under pressure to turn things around, and will no doubt be keen to dip his toes in the transfer market.

But the Spaniard may not have as much as he would like to spend on new recruits.

The Gunners head of football Raul Sanllehi said of the January transfer window: “Globally, it’s not the strategic window. By definition, that’s the summer window.

“That’s when you plan the season ahead. Last summer we did an incredible effort where we were very grateful for the support we got from our ownership to really go one step further and make, as I said, a real investment to increase our expectations for the season.

“But again, the strategical window and the one that Edu and his team are always working for in the longer term is the summer window.”