Arsenal are confident that Thomas Lemar will arrive at the Emirates in a £92million move from Monaco in January, according to reports.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger failed to land the extremely talented French attacker on deadline day and claimed that the player did not want to make a switch to the Emirates.
But, according to Daily Star, Arsnenal have now agreed in principle with Monaco and Lemar will join the North London club on a five-year deal worth £250,000-a-week.
The report also states that Lemar’s arrival will not depend upon Alexis Sanchez, who is expected to join league rivals Manchester City in the January transfer window.
Sanchez was on the verge of completing a switch to the Etihad when Arsenal chief executive Ivan Gazidis had informed the Man City bosses that he accepted their £55m plus 5m in add-ons bid for the Chilean.
But AS Monaco were not ready to sell Thomas Lemar because they had allowed too many stars to leave this summer.
The French player himself had confirmed that he was staying at Monaco.
Gunners boss Arsene Wenger defended his disastrous deadline day dealings.
The Frenchman vented out his frustration and went on to claim that contract rebel Alexis Sanchez is “happy” with life at Arsenal and will sign a new deal.
However, the reality is the Chilean superstar could leave Arsenal for just £20m in the new year.
It was understood that Lemar turned down a move to the Gunners, who made a disastrous start to their new season.
However, it now seems that the deal did not go through as Lemar was on international duty with France.
And during the international break, Wenger had confirmed that he would reignite his interest in Lemar.
When asked about another bid, he said: “Also, yes. I think he’s a player who has an enormous availability – he’s always available on the pitch.”
“It’s when you realise that he’s always ready to receive the ball, and he’s a very complete, balanced player who can defend.”
“You could see on the goal he scored that he is concerned with quality of the action.”
“He didn’t focus on power, he focused on quality, so his action becomes a pure one, because he’s relaxed and at the same time focused on the technical gesture.”
The report also claimed that another contract rebel Mesut Ozil is ready to sign a new contract with Arsenal.