By David Woods

26th Jul, 2017 | 11:48am

Arsenal set to land huge summer target in club record deal

By Harry Sykes

It looks like Arsene Wenger is finally set to land his man, as Monaco are set to let winger Thomas Lemar join the Gunners in a £45m deal, according to a report.

That would equal the club record transfer paid earlier in the summer for striker Alexandre Lacazette and will give Arsenal a new-look and potentially deadly forward line ahead of the new season.

The Sun reports that Wenger has been desperate to land Lemar this summer and that the club has finally made a breakthrough, with the transfer set to go through in the next few days.

The Sun had already claimed earlier in the month that Lemar had agreed terms with Arsenal, and if Monaco are now resigned to losing their player, the deal could be concluded quickly.

The Sun claims Lemar will be hoping the deal goes through before Monaco’s next game against Paris-Saint Germain in Morocco this Saturday in the Trophee des Champions.

Lemar will be the third new player brought into the Emirates this summer, after Wenger had already captured Sead Kolasinac on a free and Lacazette.

After a miserable campaign last season, this will be great news for Arsenal fans, although they will be hoping that it doesn’t mean the exit for Alexis Sanchez.

Wenger has said that Sanchez will not be leaving under any circumstances, but The Mail has reported that talks between the club and the player have broken down, with a £275k-a-week deal on the table.

If Sanchez doesn’t sign a new contract he could leave next summer for free, and start talking to other clubs as early as January.

Football Insider verdict:

If Arsenal manage to land Lemar, on top of Lacazette, without the lure of Champions League football it would be a real coup for Wenger. It would show that he still has the clout to attract big names and it would go a long way to solving the problems Arsenal faced last season. Lemar scored nine goals and provided 11 assists in 34 Ligue 1 games last season. Lacazette scored an incredible 28 goals in 30 league games. The next question would be whether Sanchez stays or goes. Most fans would be resigned to losing Sanchez if Lemar arrives, but if they could keep hold of him they would have probably the best attack in the Premier League. Whatever Wenger says though, it’s unlikely they will run his contract down if he won’t sign a new contract – there’s just too much money on offer for that to happen. The next few weeks will be very interesting for Gunners fans.

In other Arsenal transfer news, the club have held talks with a sporting director over the exit of this midfielder.