Former Liverpool and Arsenal Target Lemar to Join Atletico Madrid

Liverpool fans hoping for a revival of interest in Thomas Lemar after Liverpool backed away from a deal to sign Nabil Fekir due to concerns over the Lyon star’s knee will be disappointed today following news that Lemar will join Atletico Madrid.

The La Liga club announced today that they had reached a preliminary agreement with Monaco for Lemar that will be finalised in the coming days. The deal is expected to see Atletico pay around €70M for the 22-year-old French international.

According to French reports, Liverpool and Arsenal—the two clubs that came closest to signing Lemar late last summer—as well as Chelsea made inquiries into signing Lemar this summer but were put off by Monaco’s asking price for the player.

After a standout 2016-17 season, Lemar was a target of both Arsenal and Liverpool, but only Arsenal were willing to meet Monaco’s demands at the time of €90M and the player favoured a move to Anfield to join Jürgen Klopp’s project.

That Liverpool appear not to have made any attempt to revive a deal for Lemar following the collapse of the Fekir transfer suggests that after a disappointing 2017-18, Lemar was no longer even considered a top alternative target.