Arsenal are 10th in the Premier League after 24 matches having collected 30 points from 72 possible in the Premier League. Mikel Arteta has had little success since taking over as Arsenal have won just once in their last six Premier League matches. The Gunners have seen three straight league matches finish in draws. Arteta is looking to add further strike-power to the team and has his eyes on a French World Cup winner to upgrade the attack.
The player Arteta has his eyes on right now is Atletico Madrid winger Thomas Lemar. The French World Cup winner arrived at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in the summer of 2018 from Monaco for £63 million.
The French club got the better of the deal as Lemar has been a bust at Atletico Madrid. Lemar has played 15 times in La Liga for Atletico Madrid failing to score or assist a goal this term.
#AFC | Reports surfacing from Spain tonight which suggest Thomas Lemar is close to joining Arsenal.
No complaints from me if it's a loan with an option to buy, talented player in there somewhere. pic.twitter.com/MqNX8xa23s
— Chris Davison (@cdavison_afc) January 23, 2020
Lemar has played just 765 minutes in La Liga averaging a mere 51 minutes per fixture. The winger has missed the Mattressmakers’ January matches due to a muscle injury.
While Lemar has failed to bed-in to manager Diego Simeone’s tactics, he was a key player at Monaco helping the side to win Ligue 1 in 2016-17. Lemar scored 22 goals and added 33 assists in 127 career matches with Monaco.
But do Arsenal need the French World Cup winner after 18 unsuccessful months at Atletico Madrid?
https://twitter.com/king_laca/status/1220478750493761537
In Lemar’s first season at Atletico Madrid, he scored just three goals while adding six assists. It was a slightly better return than what he has done this term. However, Lemar’s transfer, for £63m, has been a major bust.
Arsenal already have one transfer bust this season. That bust is 24-year-old Nicolas Pepe. The Gunners paid £72m for Pepe last summer signing him from Lille. Pepe has scored three goals and added two assists in 21 matches in the Premier League.
Pepe has tallied a mere 63 Fantasy Premier League points. Amazingly, it is the third-best FPL total by an Arsenal player other placing him behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Bernd Leno. The fact that Pepe has scored just 63 FPL points and is Arsenal’s third-best performer shows how bad Arsenal have been in 2019-20.
So, would Lemar improve the Arsenal attack? On the face of it, he wouldn’t make it any worse. Arsenal’s defence and midfield are in need of work more than finding another winger.
The Arsenal spine has been poor and that is why Leno has been forced into making the second-most saves in the Premier League this season. Leno has made 91 saves and has the 10th most FPL points for a goalkeeper with 83.
Lemar is a player that would most likely struggle in the Premier League and FPL. He has failed in La Liga, a division where fitness and defending are not up to the level as in the Premier League. A move for the French World Cup winner would most likely be another bust by Arsenal.