Fabinho and Lemar staying at Monaco – Vasilyev

Monaco will not sell Thomas Lemar or Fabinho during the transfer window, says vice-president Vadim Vasilyev.

Both players have been linked with potential moves to the Premier League, with Arsenal reportedly lining up an offer for Lemar while Manchester United were rumoured to be chasing Fabinho’s signature.

Vasilyev indicated that Monaco, having sold Benjamin Mendy and Bernardo Silva to Manchester City and Tiemoue Bakayoko to Chelsea for combined fees that are believed to exceed €140million, would not be selling any more of the stars who helped them win Ligue 1 in 2016-17.

Speaking at a media conference, where he also revealed the club are in talks over a new contract for Kylian Mbappe, Vasilyev said: “We have kept all of the key players that we intended to keep.

“Fabinho is a must-have player in midfield who was being courted by all the major clubs. I will also address speculation about Lemar: he is staying with us. We have discussed this.

“Both these players have tremendous talent and are essential for our team.

“We must not await further departures, rather arrivals.”

#Recrues2017 ! pic.twitter.com/at7aoXrNtC

— AS Monaco (@AS_Monaco) July 26, 2017

Monaco’s recruitment drive has been focused on defensive areas with the additions including combative midfielder Meite from Zulte Waregem, centre-back Terence Kongolo, and goalkeeper Diego Benaglio.

Central midfielder Tielemans is the club’s marquee signing of the transfer window and Vasilyev expressed his satisfaction with the quality of the players arriving at the club.

“As every year, we try to rely on a mix of youth, experience and talent,” he said. “Our recruits fit perfectly into this strategy. They have a huge room for improvement.

“It will be difficult to defend the title. We know who will be the favourite but we are ambitious.”