Confirmed: Arsenal and Monaco Agree £92M Thomas Lemar Transfer Fee

It’s real this time. Earlier reports of an Arsenal bid for Thomas Lemar in excess of £90M hung in the air until they ran up against reports the player wasn’t interested in moving to a club without Champions League football and, for a time, that seemed the end of it.

Now, though, multiple journalists with ties to the London club along with Sky Sports are claiming that a bid in excess of £90M has gone in. Officially this time. For real this time. A bid, in fact, of £92M, or €100M—the fee Monaco have signalled all along that they are seeking.

The Ligue 1 side have reportedly accepted it and the player will now be free to discuss terms with Arsenal if he is willing to move to the London club, though given earlier reports it isn’t entirely clear that he is interested in moving to them. It shouldn’t, though, take long to find out.

With the bid accepted, it’s also possible now that Liverpool will match the £92M fee. Liverpool fans were promised a deadline day when the club would spend £175M or more; they were promised a statement of intent now that the club was in the Champions League.

Matching Arsenal’s bid would do that. It would also stop a top four rival from bringing in a player they desperately need and—more than that even perhaps—would likely stop Alexis Sanchez’ transfer to Manchester City from going through.