Arsenal are considering a deal that would see Alexandre Lacazette leave for Atletico Madrid with Thomas Lemar heading in the other direction, according to AS.
Could Mikel Arteta do what his old boss couldn’t and lure the 2017 Ligue 1 champion to north London?
Lemar will forever be known at the Emirates as Arsene Wenger’s ‘one that got away’. So desperate was the legendary boss to get Lemar trussed up in red and white, Arsenal made a staggering £92 million bid for the then-Monaco attacker’s services on the final day of the summer transfer window three years ago.
Just to rub salt into Wenger’s wounds, Lemar would score a stunning volley that very same night for France, before the deadline passed without a contract being agreed.
The fleet-footed winger would move to Spain a year later, joining Atletico Madrid for a cool £63 million. But, while things have hardly gone to plan for Lemar under the uber-demanding Diego Simeone (he hasn’t scored a goal in a whole year), it seems that the door to Arsenal has not yet been slammed shut.
Fellow Frenchman Lacazette has found himself in the headlines for all the wrong reasons of late. And, with his form on the pitch causing consternation too, AS suggests that Arsenal could offer Lacazette as bait in exchange for Lemar.
If the latter has struggled under Simeone, the former should be right at home at the Wanda Metropolitano. A la Colconeros legend Diego Costa, Lacazette is a forward blessed with relentless work-rate who epitomises the phrase ‘defending from the front’.
What more could Simeone want?
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