Arsenal: Moving on from Thomas Lemar not as soul-sucking as anticipated

Arsenal nearly spent way too much money on Thomas Lemar in the summer and it got everyone’s hopes up, but it’s not that bad to hear they may be moving on.

I kept saying after the transfer window closed that if Arsenal don’t end up signing Thomas Lemar at some point, there will be hell to pay. Simply because the interest was shown, the price was paid, and the only thing that was missing was some time.

All summer they diddled with trying to pay far less than what Monaco were asking and when they finally ante up, it’s too late, and we are left with an injured and bitter Alexis Sanchez, who, as of writing, has done little to nothing to help this Arsenal team.

It was all supposed to be fixed in the following summer and Lemar would be coming to town and everything would be right again. We would think back and wonder why we hadn’t acquired him a year earlier, but who cares, it’s over now.

Since then, the rumors surrounding Lemar have gone relatively silent. So much so, that it’s now being said that Arsene Wenger is moving on moving on from Lemar, having identified other targets that are cheaper and better.

I expected this news to be something akin to having my soul sucked out by a dementor, but it’s been anything but. I really don’t care. In fact, I’d even go so far as to say I’m borderline relieved.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

If Lemar was still going to cost £90m, then phooey on that. Even in the summer the price was no where near worth the acquisition. We were just all rooting for it because it was exciting. Not a soul would tell you he was worth that price. But that wasn’t the point.

Now, that absolutely is the point. Because, assuming we lose both Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil, we will have a hell of a time replacing them if Wenger spends all of the club’s still-somehow-limited funds on one man. And that one man is no guarantee, as few are these days.

Again, how far we’ve come. Since thinking that he was the only attacking solution that we could actually get our hands on, the realization has set in that there are so many more out there. Namely Nabil Fekir, who will not cost that much and who may even be better.

Then you’ve got the potential or Julian Draxler or Leon Goretzka and suddenly you wonder why you got so excited about overspending on Lemar in the first place.

Next: Arsenal's 30 Greatest Players Ever

I doubt this is the last we hear of it. But it’s nice to see that we aren’t being portrayed as in desperation mode anymore.

Home/Arsenal Transfer Rumours