Arsenal: Thomas Lemar could end Alexandre Lacazette hopes

Arsenal’s move for Alexandre Lacazette is derailing as their move for Thomas Lemar picks up. Could the latter be causing the former?

Arsene Wenger has been known to do some crazy things in order to fill the holes in his Arsenal team. Think of the time he let Theo Walcott take over striker duties rather than actually signing a new striker. Usually there isn’t as much pressure on him as there is this time around, but still, we may be ready to witness another oddity.

A striker has been the one thing we needed for years. This summer, with the quick-out-of-the-gates approaches for both Alexandre Lacazette and Kylian Mbappe, it looked to be the summer we had all been waiting for. Finally, we would have our solution up front.

But since that initial onslaught, the moves have turned south, and the only move that is picking up steam is the talk of landing Thomas Lemar, the 28-goals-produced winger from Monaco.

It felt like Lemar would be a complimentary signing to whoever the Gunners turned to at striker, whether Lacazette or Mbappe, but now I could see a situation playing out where Lemar is the only signing while Wenger pursues more creative solutions to fill the striker gap.

And no, I don’t mean moving Lemar to striker. I am talking about a different situation that could mirror what Wenger stumbled into at the start of last season.

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Landing Lemar would be a fantastic move. So fantastic, that I can’t imagine that he would be coming just to sit behind Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil. He is going to want more than that or, at the very least, the opportunity to claim one of the positions should he earn it. He won’t have that with Alexis and Ozil holding down those two positions. No one does.

Hence my theory that Lemar is being brought in to play that attacking midfield role next to Mesut Ozil while Alexis will yet again be pushed forward to play striker, solving the problem just like he did at the start of last year.

It’s not the most desirable solution and, of course, it’s purely hypothetical right now. But if you get down to it, it certainly isn’t the worst idea in the world. Alexis rocked out at striker last season and was only moved out because he was needed elsewhere. If he isn’t needed elsewhere, he can keep rocking out at striker.

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Ideally though, let’s hope that Lacazette and Lemar can both be happily acquired.

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