Liverpool January target likely to stay put over World Cup fears

One of Liverpool’s top January transfer targets, Thomas Lemar, may choose to stay at Monaco this month to protect his World Cup chances.

Lemar has been tipped as a potential replacement for Philippe Coutinho at Anfield, while the Reds are also looking at Schalke’s Leon Goretzka and Dortmund’s Christian Pulisic.

The Reds have even explored the possibility of trying to sign Naby Keita six months earlier than expected – something that his club RB Leipzig are determined not to let happen.

It would appear, however, that Lemar is highly unlikely to make the move to Merseyside this month, according to French journalist Julien Laurens in a report in the Daily Express.

Laurens told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Euro Leagues Football Show: “I love it how for all Liverpool fans that it’s a given that Lemar is going to come and replace Coutinho as early as this month.

“Right now, Monaco haven’t received any offers from Liverpool or Arsenal or no-one else for Thomas Lemar.

“The thing is that in the summer he was definitely closer to joining Arsenal than Liverpool.

“But the thing is as well, as much as I would would love him to go to Liverpool because I think he would suit this team perfectly, he can play in different positions, he’s so good on set-pieces, that left foot is amazing, I think Klopp would make him even more world-class than he already is in many ways, there’s a couple of things.

“One is that Monaco are the boss in terms of selling players and when to sell the players and how to sell the players and at which price. And for them it makes no sense whatsoever to let Lemar go now, six months before a World Cup that he can potentially win with France and be the star of the World Cup and, like James [Horncastle] said, big clubs respond very well to who is the big star of the World Cup.

“So for Monaco, and I’m not saying they might still sell him now, but for them it would make no sense whatsoever to do so and that’s why they’re saying, one and off the record: ‘We don’t usually sell in January, especially not our big players. We wait until the summer because we feel that’s not the right time for us to sell’.

“And, for Lemar, it’s a risk to go to Liverpool right now in the way that, at Monaco, he would play every single game. Didier Deschamps, who is the French head coach, lives literally five minutes away from the Monaco ground, he’s there every single home game, so there’s no better exposure for Lemar than staying in Monaco, playing every game, doing well and Deschamps will be there every week to watch him play.

 

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“You come to Liverpool… Yeah, it’s Klopp, it’s a great club, you can’t play in Europe, obviously, but still it’s fantastic, this and that, but you might need a bit of time to adapt to a new formation and people where you’re not gonna shine as much because this Liverpool team is not gonna be built on Thomas Lemar coming in January, it’s still gonna be built on Mo Salah and Sadio Mane and the role that [Roberto] Firmino has.

“So certainly you’re leaving a club where you’re gonna play every week, where you’re the star, where the France head coach is there.

“And then going to Liverpool where, okay, like I say it’s great but you might not play much and when you play you might be gapped because you will need a little bit of time to adapt to the league and to the culture and to the language and everything, six months before a World Cup, so it’s just not a given.

“It might happen. I think it won’t happen now but more [likely] in the summer than now, in January, but it might still happen before I get abused by Liverpool fans. But it also makes a lot of sense as to why Lemar would want to wait, why Monaco would want to wait. But I can see why Liverpool want it to happen now as well.”