Manchester United plan to challenge Arsenal in the race for Thomas Lemar in January, according to reports.

After Arsenal came close to completing a deal for Lemar on deadline day, agreeing a fee with Monaco but failing to agree terms with the player, the Express report that Manchester United now plan to enter the running, with Lemar’s advisors informed of Mourinho’s interest.

United reportedly made a move for Ivan Perisic over the summer, so it seems that United are in for a wide player of some kind. However, the players currently at Mourinho’s disposal have started the season well, with Rashford, Martial and Mkhitaryan all involved in the goals and assists, so their need may not be as great as Arsenal’s come January.

Arsenal still also have the potential loss of Alexis Sanchez to Manchester City to worry about in the winter window, of course.

If Arsenal had managed to get both deals done before the end of the summer then the situations would all be resolved, but now it looks like it’ll be more of a struggle to execute the same sort of transfer in a few months time.

Hopefully the Gunners can still find a way to get it done, as Lemar has a lot of potential in that wide position.