The year is 2077 and Sky Sports are still reporting that talks are ongoing between Monaco and Arsenal over Thomas Lemar.

It seems as if Arsenal have been ‘in talks’ with Monaco over Thomas Lemar for years now, although really it’s just been a couple of weeks.

However, that doesn’t make it any less tedious when media outlets, such as the Daily Star, constantly regurgitate the same news.

How long are these talks taking?

Saying this, they’re just reporting on what Sky Sports apparently said, so perhaps they’re to blame.

Fortunately, there do seem to have been some positive developments this week. Arsene Wenger has confirmed in the most Wenger-y way possible that the Gunners are interested in signing the 21-year-old and insisted that Arsenal are still active in the transfer window.

Elsewhere, Monaco boss, Leonardo Jardim, conceded that the Ligue 1 club may find it hard to hang onto all their players past this summer.

“All the players who were important last season are important to keep for the club,” Jardim explained, while frantically rooting through his pockets for the keys to Mbappe’s handcuffs.

“But it has been shown over the years that it’s not always possible to keep the players, and you know how our project works.

“So our goal is to work well with players who will stay here after the transfer window closes.”

Bernardo Silva, Benjamin Mendy and Tiemoue Bakayoko have all gone to Manchester City and Chelsea, and Kylian Mbappe could still be off to Real Madrid, which could be why Monaco are holding out for a reported £50m. Although it was rumoured that they wanted £60m recently.

Considering Arsenal’s most recent bid for Lemar was allegedly £45m, at least we seem to be heading in the right direction.