Arsenal plan to end their pursuit of Thomas Lemar, turning instead to Raheem Sterling and Nabil Fekir as January targets.

That’s according to the Daily Mail, who write that the financial demands of a deal for Lemar are proving to be too great at this stage. The Gunners made a bid of £90m over the summer, but that was when they were set to receive up to £60m for Alexis Sanchez.

Now, the Chilean is likely to leave for nothing, or significantly less, at least. Barcelona are also reportedly interested in Lemar, so that’ll only drive the price up as well.

That leaves the Gunners to turn to their other targets. Raheem Sterling was clearly a interesting enough to Arsène Wenger to be worth a late swap deal offer, but Pep Guardiola and Sterling himself have since rubbished reports that they considered the possibility.

In my opinion, this deal is even less likely than one for Lemar, especially after the relationship breakdown between Arsenal and City with the late Alexis signing falling through.

Nabil Fekir has been playing so well in Ligue 1 that his signature has also started to seem a bit beyond the Gunners.

However, if the club are losing one or two of their star players, they need to bring someone in of Fekir’s quality. Convincing Lyon to let go of another of their main men, just months after losing Lacazette to North London, may be an impossible task.