Liverpool have given up on the race to sign Thomas Lemar from Monaco, the player that could have been the replacement for Philippe Coutinho who joined Barcelona in January. We have repeatedly been linked with a move for the French midfielder in the winter window but a report from the Liverpool Echo claims that Lemar’s asking price is a little too much for Jurgen Klopp.

Lemar was a player in huge demand during the summer window after he helped Monaco claim an unlikely Ligue 1 title. The 22-year-old was in the midst of a transfer battle between us and Arsenal. The Gunners even bid around £90m to get the Frenchman on the last day of the summer window but that deal did not go through.

Monaco kept hold of their player and even recently said that they would be open to selling their players should they receive the right bid.

The report from the Echo claims that the club have also categorically denied that personal terms have been agreed with Lemar, which would be a bit of a downer for the fans.

Klopp is also of the suggestion that he does not want to sign any players in the winter window and was quoted by Sky Sports as saying:

“If something jumps in my face, maybe we would think about it but we don’t actively try to find new players that we don’t know.

“I’ve said it before, we have to use the players that we have. That makes sense. We have really high-quality players, especially Adam Lallana.

“[Lallana] is not the replacement for Philippe Coutinho, he is a completely different player but a fantastic player. He is back, that is good. Are we active? No.”

Have We Dodged A Bullet?

While Lemar was incredible for Monaco last season, his numbers don’t read all that well this time around. The 22-year-old has only scored 2 goals and has provided 5 assists in 16 Ligue 1 games, which is not that great. Also, the asking price for the player would be around the £90m, which does seem to be a little high for a player that hasn’t done all that great this campaign.

The idea that we are looking to keep the Coutinho money and spend it in the summer would not be that great given that all the other clubs are strengthening their squads. We cannot be left behind in the top four race.

We also have the FA Cup and the Champions League to play for and if Klopp can get in a couple of reinforcements, we would be in a great position to finish the campaign on a high and maybe lift a trophy or two.

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