Arsenal: Kylian Mbappe needs to bring a friend to North London

Arsenal look to be going all in on Kylian Mbappe, but if he is to come, can he at the very least bring his friend, Thomas Lemar, or is that asking too much?

So Arsenal have this £87m bid on the table for Kylian Mbappe, giving Monaco something to think about. They have already lost Bernardo Silva to Manchester City and they know that all of the big vulture clubs are going to come pecking at every single one of their talented players.

But let’s say that Mbappe does come to the Gunners. There will be much rejoicing, he will ride into North London sat atop a donkey. It’ll be huge.

I’m not trying to sound ungrateful, but from a purely selfish standpoint, can the young Frenchman bring Thomas Lemar with him?

There is one thing that always drove me nuts about the Arsenal attack last year and at times this year (before the 3-4-3, and even sometimes during).

The attack looked so damn predictable. Everyone had the same habits, the passes would circle the box and nothing would ever happen. Sure, every so often we would see a truly magnificent team goal, but more times than not, they were left flustered and out of ideas.

There was this guy named Joel Campbell who was my solution to that problem. The Costa Rican was wildly unpredictable – in a good way – because he drove straight into the teeth of the defense and from there he was liable to do just about anything, shoot, pass, cross, dribble, put on a puppet show – you name it, he was ready to try it at least once.

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That kept the defense on its toes. It caused them problems and it gave Arsenal an edge they hadn’t had in quite some time.

Thomas Lemar is a direct player, like Campbell. He may not be as much of a loose cannon, but that could play into his strengths (no puppet shows for Lemar).

The Frenchman is just 21 years old. He contributed to 28 goals, split evenly between bulging the net and setting up a team mate to do so. He was an absolute star who would have garnered much more attention had Mbappe not existed.

Mbappe should absolutely be priority No. 1. He fixes a pertinent problem. But Lemar is a speedy, creative attacker that could fit into one of those wide attacking midfield roles brilliantly. He created over two chances a game this past season, after all.

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Of course, expecting Monaco to part with even one of these talented youngsters is a stretch, let alone two.

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