Arsenal: Thomas Lemar must break similarity with Alexandre Lacazette

Arsenal’s lengthy transfer dance with Alexandre Lacazette is being eerily mirrored in Thomas Lemar, but let’s hope that one similarity changes.

I mentioned over the summer how missing out on Thomas Lemar felt just like how it felt to miss out on Alexandre Lacazette in 2015. He had just come off a massive year and everyone knew that Arsenal were interested, it was just a matter of price.

It never happened. Lacazette went on to start off the season following his breakthrough in rather slow fashion, but a burst at the end saved him from looking like a one-offer. He took a dip in his stats, but nothing that would deter the Gunners interest.

Lemar looks to be doing the same. He had his big burst last season, gained Arsenal’s interest, they failed to land him and now he is getting off to a bit of a slow start. Monaco are still scoring freely like last year, but Lemar only has one goal and three assists in the French top flight.

Like Lacazette, not poor numbers, but a bit of a slower start than what he experienced last season, when it all just came naturally for him.

Lacazette went into the 2016 summer even more heavily linked to the Gunners, but the issue again appeared to be price, and Lucas Perez was brought in instead, costing a fraction of what Lacazette would have.

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Lucas remains one of the more embarrassing stories of recent Arsenal history because of how poorly he was treated. It proved that he was not the man that Wenger wanted.

Lemar is going to go into the 2018 summer just as coveted by Wenger and no doubt there will be attempts made to sign him. The similarities are lining up between Lacazette and Lemar, but this is where the big split needs to happen and Lemar needs to take a different path.

Wenger let Lacazette slip by again in 2016 and, thankfully, he remained at Lyon, because obviously the Gunners plucked him up in 2017, but for Lemar, if we don’t sign him in 2018, then there will be no 2019 with him. He will be off to bigger and better things and he’ll never look back at Arsenal.

That’s what worries me. Who are we going to have to sell to be able to afford Lemar as well as numerous other solutions that this club needs?

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It’s always dicey to put Wenger into a transfer corner, because you end up with Yaya Sanogo as your striker solution. But maybe with Thomas Lemar we can pull something magical off.

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