Atletico in talks for Lemar

Atletico Madrid are in talks with Monaco over the possibility of signing Thomas Lemar, according to AS.

Lemar is a highly versatile attacking player, able to perform well on either wing, as a No. 10 behind a striker or even as the striker. After starting his career with Caen, he moved to Monaco in 2015, and he has made 124 appearances and scored 22 goals for them since.

He has been linked with a possible departure for a while now, mostly with Arsenal and Liverpool. It was reported that the Gunners even had a deadline-day bid rejected last summer.

But now it seems Atletico have jumped to the front of the queue as Liverpool pursuit other targets, while Arsenal are going through some structural changes and Unai Emery, who has replaced Arsene Wenger as the manager, will have a very limited budget for this summer’s transfer activities.

Only 22, Lemar is certainly a hot prospect but isn’t likely to come cheap, which perhaps indicates a contingency plan should Antoine Griezmann decide to move on.