Chelsea Offered Chance to Join Spurs & Arsenal in Race for Atlético Madrid’s Thomas Lemar

?Chelsea have been offered the chance to sign Atlético Madrid flop Thomas Lemar, with the player reportedly keen on a move to west London.

The Blues are the latest club to be linked with a January swoop for the 24-year-old winger, with Tottenham and Arsenal ?already believed to be monitoring Lemar’s situation.

Frank Lampard is seeking to bolster his squad with a few key signings in problem positions after Chelsea’s two-window transfer ban was cut short by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last month.

A left back, backup striker and creative midfielder or attacker are believed to be on the boss’ wish-list, with ?Lemar ticking the box for the latter.

The ?Evening Standard reports the France international is available on an initial loan and has signalled his openness to a move to intermediaries, with Champions League football a priority – something that could play to ?Chelsea and ?Tottenham’s advantage.

Lampard has made clear his desire to bring in someone to mitigate for the loss of goals and assists following the sale of talismanic Belgian ?Eden Hazard in the summer – something the Blues had previously been unable to do with the embargo in place.

Lemar would pose a cheaper alternative to Wilfried Zaha, with Crystal Palace demanding a whopping £80m for the mercurial Ivorian winger – a price Chelsea are not prepared to match. Meanwhile, Lemar is thought to be available for a £5m loan fee, with ?Atléti willing to discuss a permanent transfer in the region of £50m.

While Lemar has time on his side and is certainly a creative talent, his career has stalled somewhat following his €60m move to the Spanish capital from Monaco in the summer of 2018. The Frenchman is without a goal or an assist in 21 appearances this season, and he has made just nine goal contributions in total since his big-money transfer.

He has been deemed surplus to requirements at the Wanda Metropolitano as a result, with Diego Simeone recently saying ?Lemar had ‘failed to live up to expectations‘.

However, despite his struggles, the loan option means this would perhaps be a gamble worth taking for Lampard and Chelsea, with the Blues in dire need of more creative outlets behind Tammy Abraham and attacking replacements for likely outgoers Pedro, Olivier Giroud and Michy Batshuayi.

Jadon Sancho is another winger to have been linked with Chelsea this month, but a January move is highly unlikely.

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