Monaco name their price for Arsenal target, and it’s huge

Rob McCarthy

Arsenal have been told that they will have to cough up £80million if they want to sign Monaco star Thomas Lemar this summer.

Indeed, the Gunners would have to completely smash their transfer record again if they want to bring in the winger.

Lemar is said to be Arsenal’s number one transfer target but the Ligue 1 champions are hoping their huge valuation will end Arsene Wenger’s interest in the player, according to the report in the Daily Mirror.

Arsenal would almost certainly have to offload more players for the board to sanction paying that much for Lemar, although Wojciech Szczesny, Carl Jenkinson and Lucas Perez are all set to leave and the futures of Jack Wilshere and star striker Alexis Sanchez remain unclear.

The Gunners have already broken their transfer record this summer, after bringing in Alexandre Lacazette for £52m from Lyon, but will have to do so again if they want Lemar that much.

Indeed, last month Monaco vice-president Vadim Vasilyev warned he would not sell ‘half the team’.

Vasilyev said: “I think there will be quite a few (players leaving).

“We have done a great job, we have fantastic quality players, so I don’t have to think about how many or who (to sell).

“I stay calm. There will be some departures but we will definitely not let half a team go because we want to keep the team competitive for next year. A few, yes,”

The Gunners also continue to be linked with a move Lemar’s Monaco team-mate Kylian Mbappe but he would cost at least twice what Lacazette did and that seems highly unlikely.