Chelsea aim to hijack Arsenal's January bid for £80-rated Monaco star Thomas Lemar 
Matt Law, football news correspondent
12 DECEMBER 2017 • 1:23PM
Chelsea are weighing up a January bid to try to hijack Liverpool and Arsenal's interest in Monaco star Thomas Lemar as the club consider ways of increasing head coach Antonio Conte's options. Arsenal and Liverpool both failed with offers for Lemar during the summer, with the Reds ready to revive their interest in the New Year. But Telegraph Sport can reveal that Chelsea hold a strong and genuine interest in Lemar, and are seriously considering making a bid of their own. The Blues would have to break their transfer record, which stands at £57 million for Alvaro Morata, to land Lemar who is valued at £80m. Chelsea have the advantage over Arsenal and Liverpool of being able to offer players, either on loan or permanaently, to Monaco in the other direction. And the Blues will hope that Michael Emenalo's switch to Monaco as the French club's sporting director could give them a boost if they go ahead with a move for 22-year-old Lemar. Monaco were adamant they would not sell Lemar in the summer, but the club are out of Europe and trail Ligue 1 leaders Paris Saint-Germain ny nine points. They are planning an overhaul of their first-team squad and Academy, which means Lemar is expected be sold to the highest bidder, either in January or next summer, to help finance that. Lemar is predominantly a left-footed player, which Chelsea are short of, but he can play across a variety of different positions. He would strengthen Conte's attacking options, but could also give him another option at left wing-back. Chelsea failed with a bid for Juventus left-back Alex Sandro and remain interested in the wantaway Brazilian. They have also checked on Porto's Alex Telles and Augsburg's Philipp Max. It appears unlikely the Blues would try to sign both Lemar and Sandro, so they may have to choose between the pair.
Conte has again expressed fears that his current squad is not big enough to cope with combining Premier League and Champions League campaigns, particularly following Chelsea's last-16 draw against Barcelona. Chelsea will try to address that in January.
As well as looking at left-sided options, the club will try again to sign midfielder Ross Barkley from Everton and are looking for another striker. Barkley turned down a move to Stamford Bridge on transfer deadline day while he recovered from injury. But the 24 year-old, who is also a target of Tottenham Hotspur, is nearly fit again and is open-minded over his future.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2017/12/12/chelsea-weigh-january-bid-80-rated-monaco-star-thomas-lemar/ [ 此帖被羅力亞在2018-01-09 08:11重新編輯 ]
