Arsenal: Alexis Sanchez may be blocking Thomas Lemar

Arsene Wenger didn’t exactly say much about Thomas Lemar’s potential Arsenal move, but there may be the slightest hint to glean from his words.

Arsene Wenger is not one for telling much of anything about Arsenal’s transfer prospects, especially before the deal is absolutely, positively, 100% sealed. So I’m not sure why I’m so disappointed that he said next to nothing about Thomas Lemar‘s prospective move to North London.

That said, a bit of a light bulb may have come on (I’m not sure where this light bulb has been) when Wenger pointed out that they are looking for players that can improve the squad. By the squad, I am going to interpret that he means the starting XI, since this summer isn’t supposed to be about depth signings.

Meaning that Thomas Lemar might not exactly fit into the transfer plans at all, especially with how things stand right now.

Think about it. Arsene Wenger absolutely never swapped out Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil for anyone. Only in lesser competitions would he swing somebody else in there. Is he really going to drop £50m on a guy that he doesn’t plan to start every single match day? Because as of right now, that’s what we are asking him to do by signing Thomas Lemar.

And even I have to admit it sounds pretty crazy when you get down to the bare bones of it.

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That said, it is a smart investment for safety purposes, as well as for depth and the future. Not to mention it would create quite a nice safety blanket underneath Alexis, should he eventually skedaddle, which is always going to be a concern until that contract is signed. And even still beyond that.

I think of the last time that Wenger signed someone that he knew from the onset wasn’t going to be a starter. You could think of Lucas Perez, who was incredibly cheap by striker standards. And you cant think of Mohamed Elneny, who was a measly £5m. Those are depth signings.

For now, Lemar would absolutely be a depth signing, yet he would be a club record signing because of the insane price tag on him.

I don’t think any player would round out Arsenal’s summer better than Thomas Lemar. All doubts would be put to bed and we’d be ready to take on every single team in any competition. But even with Wenger’s current spending habits, Lemar would stand out.

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He doesn’t even fit the new transfer narrative, so Wenger would have to even go beyond that to justify signing him. I will try to remain optimistic, but there is certainly concern.

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