Arsenal: Thomas Lemar negates Alexandre Lacazette magic

Arsenal managed to pull a fast one when they signed Alexandre Lacazette, who wanted Champions League football, but Thomas Lemar cancels that out.

Arsenal looked set to pull off another razzle-dazzle with a massive £92m bid for Thomas Lemar, who Monaco have clung to all summer. However, mere minutes after that bid was reported and supposedly accepted, pending the players approval, it all fell apart.

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And the reasoning is more sickening than the Ox’s exit. Lemar prefers Liverpool, as he wants to play Champions League football. Alexandre Lacazette, of course, said the exact same thing before agreeing to a switch to Arsenal a mere week later.

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The key difference there was that Arsene Wenger had time to speak directly with the player and whisper sweet nothings in his ear about paradise and being the man of the future.

We haven’t had that luxury with Lemar and there is no one to blame for that but the club. All summer they’ve been trying to get him and here we are on deadline day trying to pull it off at the last second and all Lemar has to base his judgment off of is where Arsenal currently sit.

Now granted, we don’t know if Lacazette would have come at this point either, but not giving yourself time to wrap up a deal of this magnitude doesn’t go down as a “worthy effort” it goes down as lazy and unprepared.

And now we are stuck with a prolific attacker who doesn’t want to be here and all this money we pocketed from another transfer window that started so well and ended so, so poorly.

At this point, it doesn’t look like Liverpool will land Lemar, which means that there is a faint glimmer of hope if somehow, some way, the Gunners are able to squeak back into the top four for next season. That way, they can sign Lemar next year when Alexis walks for free.

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But then, if money is the problem, then who will they have to sell to fund that deal? Because Alexis is really one of the last great resources and we are getting nothing from him. Which means unless there is some sort of cash infusion, players like Lemar will be off the table.