City planning to pip rivals to Lemar signing

Manchester: Manchester City are ready to land another blow on their Premier League rivals by launching a bid to sign Monaco’s Thomas Lemar.

Liverpool, Arsenal and Chelsea have all been tracking Lemar, but City are preparing to jump the queue for the France international.

The news, together with the fact City are expected to sign Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Fred, will heighten fears among those trying to keep up with Pep Guardiola’s side that they will be uncatchable for years.

City tried to sign Alexis Sanchez and Riyad Mahrez in January, as Guardiola wants another forward who can play off the flank to add to his squad.

Eden Hazard is high on Guardiola’s list of targets, but Chelsea are adamant the Belgian will not be sold to City, even for a world-record fee. That is likely to result in City turning their attention to 22-year-old Lemar, who is expected to leave Monaco to the highest bidder in the summer.

Arsenal failed with a pounds 90 million offer last year, while Liverpool had at least one bid turned down.

Reports in France have claimed Liverpool are pushing to find an agreement in principle over Lemar, but no deal is thought to be close and City could step in.

With two years remaining on his Monaco contract at the end of this season, it is unclear whether or not City will have to match or better the pounds 90 million Arsenal put up.

City paid pounds 52 million to take -left-back Benjamin Mendy from Monaco last summer and the 23-year-old would no doubt be -delighted to link up with Lemar again at the Etihad Stadium.

Since joining from Caen in 2015, Lemar, who is left-footed but can play on either side or through the middle, has made 107 appearances for Monaco and scored 22 goals.

Guardiola last week revealed that he was looking to make only one or two signings this summer, with Fred thought to be one of them.

Having spent pounds 448 million since he was appointed as manager in 2016, Guardiola has predicted City will be less active and just concentrate on key deals.

“Of course, we buy a lot of -players and they have helped us a lot and next summer we will buy one or two players more,” said Guardiola. “So, our market in the summer will be cheaper. If you want to compete at a high level of competitions you need the good players, and the good players make good managers, good clubs.”

Despite an acceptance that City cannot go on spending as they have, a number of their rivals are already worried the Manchester club will dominate while Guardiola remains in place. City are 16 points ahead of second-placed United and 20 in front of fourth-placed Tottenham Hotspur, and those in charge of -trying to cut the gap are pessimistic over their chances.

No team have retained the Premier League title since United won it for three successive seasons -between 2006 and 2009.

— The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2018