Former Arsenal top target Thomas Lemar is set for a January move after Atletico Madrid ‘give up’ on winger.
The Gunners were desperate to sign France international Lemar from Monaco on deadline day in summer 2017 – but had a £92million offer rebuffed by the Ligue 1 club.
Liverpool had also been interested but he eventually waited a year before agreeing a move to join Atleti for £63m.
But his time at the La Liga giants has been unmemorable, as the 24-year-old has only managed three goals and six assists in 61 appearances.
According to France Football, coaching staff in the Spanish capital have decided they no longer want to work with Lemar.
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Atleti are therefore looking to replace him with Valencia’s Rodrigo – with offers for Lemar welcome.
The Gunners former transfer guru Dick Law has previously explained how close Lemar was to moving to north London and why the deal fell apart.
Law told Goal: “We did try to get Thomas Lemar that day, but it didn’t get done.
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“We thought we had Lemar and then that would have meant Sanchez to Manchester City . It was a simple operation of using the Sanchez money to pay for Lemar.
“We had a deal done for Lemar, Sanchez had a deal done with City. But Lemar had been called up for France and Monaco had played the thing out and they ended up playing it out too long.
“They didn’t send a clear signal to the player before he left for the national team and when they did send that signal, Lemar was already there with the French national team on the day of their international match and the deal fell apart.
“It was a shame because it would have been interesting to see Lemar at Arsenal , but you have to move on from these decisions and circumstances. You can’t sit and dwell on what might have been.”
