Thomas Lemar Didn’t Want To Be “Bullied” Into A Late Move – Report

By The Editor
on 5th September 2017

Thomas Lemar wanted more time to ponder Arsenal move…

Thomas Lemar’s potential move to Arsenal, which broke down at the 11th hour, was due to the Frenchman’s unwillingness to be rushed into a decision, according to John Cross.

As the window was drawing to a close, news broke of our readiness to sell Alexis Sanchez to Manchester City and even agreeing on a £60million fee.

Despite stating all summer that he wasn’t for sale, we scrambled around the final few hours looking for a replacement in order to sanction the deal.

And thus, we somehow found the finances to table a British-record £92million fee for Lemar, which Monaco swiftly accepted.

However, according to John Cross, Lemar was keen for more time to ponder the move.

“In the latter stages of the window, Monaco could see that Arsenal were maybe going to deal for Sanchez, got back in touch and said: ‘we’ll sell the player for €100m’.

“At that point, Arsenal tabled a bid which was accepted, I think they felt that earlier in the window that the player definitely wanted to come.

“He wasn’t going to be rushed or bullied into something at the last minute, and therefore said I need more time.”

Hearing how those final days panned out only brings us to one conclusion: we had zero planning ahead of the window – yet again.