AS Monaco winger Lemar has admitted that he was ‘a bit disappointed’ after turning down a Premier League switch during last summer’s transfer window.
The 22-year-old was of interest to both Arsenal and Liverpool, and the Gunners had a British-record bid of around £92m turned down by Monaco before the summer transfer deadline.
Since then, the attacker has not enjoyed the best of seasons with Monaco with just three goals and eight assists to his name, but he is hoping for a second chance to ply his trade in the English top-flight.
Speaking on Telefoot, he said: “I am not going to hide it, I was a bit disappointed. But there is no point fixating on that.
“I have continued to work so that these clubs might come back for me in the following transfer window. My future? I am open to everything. I love all the different leagues.”
Back then, Monaco had lost several of their title-winning players to elite European clubs, and this seemingly played a role in restricting the sales of Lemar and teammate Fabinho.
Following the failed move, Gunners boss Arsene Wenger suggested that he may return with a fresh approach for Lemar in the future, but this probably looks unlikely after the club’s winter business.
Arsenal decide to swap Alexis Sanchez for Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Manchester United, and they have since paid up a club-record £56m fee for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, which has taken a decent chunk of their summer budget.
Weaknesses in the club are now in the defensive department, in particular, most of the transfer kitty will probably go into bolstering the position as well as buying a new goalkeeper and holding midfielder.
Should this be the likely scenario, Arsenal are unlikely to come close to matching Monaco’s British-record valuation for Lemar, which was probably done in desperation last time around amid the Sanchez saga.
