Report Claims Arsenal Have Agreed Terms for Potential Thomas Lemar Deal in January

Arsenal are said to have agreed a deal in principle to sign summer target Thomas Lemar in the January transfer window.

The Daily Star report that the 21-year-old would be signing a five-year contract worth an estimated £250,000-a-week, with Arsene Wenger telling associates that the deal does not necessarily rely on the Gunners losing Alexis Sanchez in the same window.

FRANCK FIFE/GettyImages

However Wenger will likely have to accept the option of losing Alexis - whose contract runs out at the end of the campaign - in a cut price deal to Manchester City, potentially a deal worth around half the £60m offered towards the summer deadline.

It is widely known that Lemar rejected the advances from the north Londoners on deadline day, but it is believed that logistical issues came to head in the transfer falling through.

The young winger was in action for Didier Deschamps' France side against the Netherlands, meaning the player was unable to leave the squad to complete a transfer despite his interest in the move.

Speaking in his press conference on Thursday, Wenger spoke about the reasons behind him letting Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain leave for Liverpool in a £35m deal.

Wenger said: "We had to sell someone, we have players we do not want to extend, and we have players we wanted to extend, where we could not find an agreement. Every time you have to quantify the loss of income. And at the end of the day, you decide, ok, we can do it for two or three, but not for four or five.”

The Gunners will be looking to change their recent fortunes this weekend, with only one win in three, as they play hosts to Bournemouth at the Emirates on Saturday.