ARSENAL are closing in on a £45million deal for Monaco star Thomas Lemar. The Gunners have been desperate to land the French international and SunSport understands the Premier League side have finally made a breakthrough. Arsene Wenger has already had bids rejected for the 21-year-old as Monaco were demanding £80m for a player they signed from Caen two years ago. Monaco were hoping the huge numbers quoted would deter Arsenal and help them keep Lemar for another season on the premise his value would increase further to spark a bidding war.
SunSport revealed earlier this month Lemar has already agreed terms with Arsenal and told the French champions to allow him to move to North London this summer. Lemar will be Wenger’s third addition at the Emirates this summer as the French coach looks to lead the club back into title contention. Alexandre Lacazette and Sead Kolasinac have been recruited and the arrival of the Monaco star will be a huge boost for the Gunners, who would take their summer spending to £97m. Lemar featured for Monaco in their last pre-season game at Benfica and will hope to get the green light to complete his switch to the Premier League before they face Paris-Saint Germain in Morocco this Saturday in the Trophee des champions. It had been thought Monaco would stop their player exodus and fight to keep the wide man for their title defence next season. But the winger is set to follow Bernardo Silva, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Benjamin Mendy, Valere Germain and Kylian Mbappe through the Stade Louis II exit door.
Meanwhile the Gunners are in talks with Galatasaray over a £10million move for Mohamed Elneny, according to reports. The Egyptian midfielder joined Arsene Wenger’s side just 18 months ago but already they are open to him leaving. Fotospor claim Galatasaray’s sporting director Cenk Ergun has been in London looking to finalise a deal. And the Turkish side could now be in pole position to sign Elneny after he rejected a £10m bid from Leicester, as revealed by SunSport. Elneny has a contract at the Emirates until 2020. But he made just 14 Premier League appearances last season – with only eight of those being starts. Elneny joined the Gunners from Basel in January last year for a fee of £5m. Talk of his exit comes with Arsenal facing a series of switches in the middle of the park this summer.