Real Madrid are reportedly plotting a double raid on AS Monaco to land Kylian Mbappe and Thomas Lemar in the summer.
Spanish publication Don Balon have reported that Thomas Lemar, in addition to Kylian Mbappe, is the subject of attention of Real Madrid, who are set to make a move to land the AS Monaco duo in the summer transfer window.
Monaco stunned European and French football in 2016/17 as they played some of the most exciting football in the continent in their run up to making the semifinals of the Champions League and clinching the Ligue 1 title comfortably ahead of Paris Saint-Germain.
Leonardo Jardim’s men turned in a complete team performance throughout the campaign, but there were a few standout performers who made a big impression on their own. Among these, there were none bigger than the sensational teenager Kylian Mbappe who has established himself as arguably the hottest property in world football.
Hailed as the “next Thierry Henry” in his native France, the 18-year-old bagged 26 goals and 14 assists in 44 appearances across all competitions – staggering numbers for a player who is still in the early stages of his senior career.
Meanwhile, Thomas Lemar was a player who didn’t often grab the headlines over the course of the campaign, but as he went about doing his job quietly he turned into an unsung hero for the principality club.
A mainstay in midfield for Monaco, Lemar played 55 times in all competitions for his side in 2016/17, scoring 14 goals while providing 17 assists in the process. With both Mbappe and Lemar being impressive in their respective second campaigns with the first-team squad at Stade Louis II, the duo is starting to attract the interest of some of the biggest clubs in the world.
While Mbappe has the who’s who of the footballing world tailing him for many months now, Lemar has also been linked with the likes of Arsenal, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and others. However, Real Madrid are now set to steal a march on their competition to make a double summer swoop for the Monaco duo.
While Los Blancos had already been labelled as the favourites to sign Mbappe, with the player reportedly himself preferring a move to the Santiago Bernabeu, club president Florentino Perez is now also eager to land Lemar this summer, as he looks to bolster the midfield in Zinedine Zidane’s squad.
With Karim Benzema enduring a lull in form for the majority of the campaign, and with Alvaro Morata set to leave the club in the summer, Mbappe would make for a top quality long-term solution in attack for Real Madrid.
The report suggests that Real Madrid fancy their chances of beating the competition for the duo to land both the players. It now remains to be seen if Zidane is able to bolster his squad considerably with the double raid on Monaco in the summer.
