Arsenal: Thomas Lemar contingency plan equally exciting

Arsenal’s pursuit of Thomas Lemar is ongoing, but what if they can’t secure him? Fear not, because the contingency plan for that is pretty great too.

I think we’ve all been pretty sold on the idea of Thomas Lemar coming to Arsenal. The reports are unanimously positive. Despite Monaco clearly holding tight, the Gunners are not backing down and are steadily increasing their bid, trying to hit the right price.

Or at least that’s what they tell us. But there is always that risk that Monaco really aren’t going to let him go and all of this is moot. Which would force Arsene Wenger to make an adjustment and alter his approach to this apparent need.

Which is what prompted me to think of a ‘contingency plan’ of sorts to fall back on if we can’t land Lemar in this transfer window and what I’ve come up with almost has me just as excited as landing Lemar right now.

You have to think that Lemar is coming in so that there can be a seamless transition should Alexis walk next year. That would make sense given his skill set. And Mesut Ozil‘s future is always up in the air too, even in spite of his assertion that he would prefer to stay.

So let’s say we go through this summer and don’t land anyone. What then?

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Easy. Go with Ozil and Alexis Sanchez for another year, lock down Ozil, if Alexis walks, then we can go after Emil Forsberg and Lemar next summer to cope, which, correct me if I’m wrong, is pretty damn enticing.

Both Forsberg and Lemar will have a chance to prove that their big breakout year wasn’t a one off. Or, even better, they can have minor slump in their second year, a-la Lacazette (ha!) and drive their own prices down before pushing for an exit, at which point the Gunners will be waiting with open arms, ready to forget that Alexis ever existed (is that too harsh?)

Or, if Alexis stays, all the better. Then we can take one or the other and prepare for the future. Maybe even both.

The point is, it’s not the end of the world if we don’t land Lemar, because I don’t believe Wenger would sell Alexis without a viable replacement, so he’d keep him for that last year and find someone next summer. Someone worthy of the spot, like Lemar or Forsberg.

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Money isn’t an issue, I truly believe that. So not getting anything from Alexis walking isn’t that big of a hit. We would still spend plenty replacing him.

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