Transfer News: Thomas Lemar Joins Atletico Madrid from AS Monaco

AS Monaco midfielder Thomas Lemar was officially unveiled as an Atletico Madrid today. The French midfielder cost 52 million pounds and he has the ability to take La Liga by storm this season.

The World Cup winner, who was unveiled at the Wanda Metropolitano on Monday afternoon was visibly excited by the move. “I’m very happy to be here. I really want to meet all my new team-mates. I’ve met a few, but I want to meet them all,” Lemar said, per the official Atletico website. “I also really want to meet the fans at the Wanda Metropolitano.”

He then went on to elucidate how he had arrived at the decision to join Atletico. According to him,” (France team-mates) Antoine (Griezmann) and Lucas (Hernandez) have told me lots about the club. I’m very happy with the decision I made. I know this team demands hard work and I’ll give it my all for the team. If I need to run more, I’ll do it without a problem.”

The 22-year-old had agreed to join Atletico in June but because of the Mundial, it was postponed to a later date. Despite featuring only once in Russia for the national side, Lemar was an integral part of the Monaco team that won the Ligue 1 in 2016/17, reached the Champions League semi-final and ended last season with a respectable second-place finish.

In his 127 appearances for the French club, he produced 22 goals and 32 assists despite playing as a central midfielder for most of those games. Interestingly, he was supposed to join Arsenal in January but the move fell through. Liverpool was also recruited in hiring his services but it was Diego Simeone and his set-up at Atletico that convinced the player to join them.

Lemar is expected to be a part of the Atletico Madrid team that will be taking on cross-city rivals Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup in Estonia on 15th August.