Liverpool Reportedly Ready to Revive Thomas Lemar Interest

Liverpool have just made their first major signing of the summer, landing Moanco’s Fabinho, a shock signing given nobody knew the club were even trying to sign the €50M holding midfielder until less than three hours before it became official.

They aren’t done, though, with two to three more major signings planned and the club trying to get all their deals done before the World Cup. And according to L’Equipe, they might not be done with signing players from Monaco, either.

The French paper claim that Liverpool retain interest in Thomas Lemar, who emerged last summer as a late target for the club. When Liverpool failed to close the deal on deadline day, though, the general consensus was that they had moved on.

Reports over the past two weeks that Liverpool were moving to sign Nabil Fekir further gave the impression that a return for Lemar this summer was unlikely at best, which makes news of continuing interest in the French international unexpected.

And, if he is still a target and Liverpool do land him, it won’t be in place of Fekir. As unlikely as it seems, L’Equipe believe the Reds want both—and the wider consensus is Fekir will be the player who arrives next, at least barring another shock signing.

Lemar’s stock has cooled somewhat over the past season but he’s still heading to Russia with a French side that didn’t have room for Anthony Martial, Alexandre Lacazette, or Karim Benzema and at just 22 years of age he’s still got room to grow.

Given the club’s interest in Fekir, if both signed it would mean Lemar arriving as a wing player, becoming second choice to both Sadio Mané on the left and Mohamed Salah on the right. With 60-odd games to play next year, he’d still get minutes.

Fekir, meanwhile, would in that case only be arriving to play as a midfield shuttler and perhaps to be second choice behind Roberto Firmino at striker, adding starting quality in midfield and depth at the forward position due to his versatility.

Even if L’Equipe are wrong and Lemar isn’t a target, wing depth is on the shopping list for Klopp and Liverpool this summer—though of all the big signings the club is expected to make, that position is the one least likely to see a new starter arrive.