Thomas Benoît Lemar (born 12 November 1995) is a French professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for La Liga club

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

and the France national team. He is known for his versatility, being able to play on both wings and through the centre. Features of his game include dribbling and passing ability. Lemar began his senior career at

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000, In 2018, he signed for La Liga club

, where he won the UEFA Super Cup in his debut season. Lemar represented France at every level from U17 to U21, and made his international senior debut in 2016 against the

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...

. He was a member of the team that won the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national Association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awa ...

, also featuring at UEFA Euro 2020.

Club career

Caen

Lemar made his

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

debut in the opening game of the 2013–14 season on 2 August 2013, replacing Jérôme Rothen after 78 minutes in

Monaco

2015–16 season

On 1 July 2015, Lemar officially joined Monaco for an undisclosed fee. He scored his first goal for the club on 22 August 2015, scoring in a 1–1 draw with Toulouse. On 20 September, he scored in the club's 2–3 home loss to Lorient. Four days later, Lemar scored in Monaco's 3–2 win over

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

at the Stade de la Mosson. On 17 January 2016, Lemar scored in Monaco's 2–0 away win over Lorient. On 4 March, Lemar scored the opening goal in Monaco's 2–2 draw with his former club Caen.

2016–17 season

On 14 September 2016, Lemar scored his first goal of the season in Monaco's 2–1 away win over English club Tottenham Hotspur. Three days later, he scored twice in Monaco's 3–0 win over Rennes. On 1 October, he scored the opening goal in Monaco's 7–0 away win over Metz. On 21 October, he scored the fifth of six goals in Monaco's 6–2 win over

, and on 18 November, he scored in Monaco's 3–0 win over Lorient. On 22 November, Lemar scored the winning goal in Monaco's 2–1 win over Tottenham Hotspur, scoring in the 53rd minute with his goal coming one minute after Tottenham had equalized through Harry Kane in the 52nd minute. On 15 January 2017, Lemar scored in Monaco's 4–1 win over Marseille, which moved Monaco to the top of the table. On 1 February, Lemar scored in Monaco's 5–4 win over Championnat National club Chambly. On 1 March, Lemar scored the winning goal in a 4–3 extra-time away win over Marseille in a

2016–17 Coupe de France The 2016–17 Coupe de France was the 100th season of the most prestigious football cup competition of France. The competition was organised by the French Football Federation (FFF) and was opened to all clubs in French football, as well as clubs fr ...

round of 16 match. On 1 April, Lemar scored in the Coupe de la Ligue Final against Paris Saint-Germain, scoring the equalizer in the 27th minute, but Monaco eventually would lose the final 4–1. Lemar finished the season with 14 goals in all competitions.

2017–18 season

In the 2017 summer transfer window, Lemar was linked to Premier League clubs Liverpool and

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, though an agreement was never reached. On 29 June, Monaco rejected a £31m bid from Arsenal, and in late August, Liverpool had a bid of £65m rejected. On the final day of the transfer window, Arsenal made a final offer of €100m, contingent on Alexis Sanchez moving to

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The tw ...

for €65m but the move collapsed as Lemar was informed on extremely short notice, just hours before a crucial World Cup qualification fixture against the Netherlands. On 28 October 2017, Lemar scored his first goal of the season in Monaco's 2–0 win over Bordeaux. On 15 December, Lemar scored the second goal in Monaco's 4–0 win over

AS Saint-Étienne Association Sportive de Saint-Étienne Loire (), commonly known as A.S.S.E. () or simply Saint-Étienne, is a professional football club based in Saint-Étienne in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France. The club was founded in 1933 and competes in ...

. On 9 January 2018, Lemar scored in Monaco's 2–1 away win over Nice in the

2017–18 Coupe de la Ligue The 2017–18 Coupe de la Ligue was the 24th edition of the French league cup competition. The winners of the league cup earned a place in the 2018–19 Europa League starting in the second qualifying round. Forty-four clubs will participate in the ...

quarter-finals.

Atlético Madrid

On 18 June 2018, La Liga club

confirmed that an agreement had been reached with Monaco for the transfer of Lemar. On 27 July, Lemar successfully passed his medical, joining for a reported fee of €70 million. On 22 September, Lemar scored his first league goal for Atletico against Getafe in a 2–0 away win, where he also hit the shot that resulted in an own goal for Getafe keeper

David Soria David Soria Solís (born 4 April 1993) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for La Liga club Getafe. Club career Early career Born in Madrid, Soria finished his youth career with Real Madrid. Following his release, he ...

. He ended the 2018–19 season with three goals in all competitions. In the 2019–20 season, Lemar featured in 29 matches in all competitions, yet he finished the season with no goals and no assists. On 5 December 2020, Lemar scored his side's opening goal against Valladolid in a 2–0 win, ending a run of 45 matches at club level without scoring dating back to April 2019. In the 2020–21 season, as manager Diego Simeone began experimenting with the 3–5–2 formation, Lemar surprisingly became a starter in the position of a left-sided central midfielder despite fierce competition from Saúl Ñíguez.

International career

Lemar was called up to the senior France squad to face

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

and

in November 2016 after Kingsley Coman withdrew through injury. He made his debut on 15 November against the latter, replacing Adrien Rabiot for the final 12 minutes of a home friendly match that ended in 0–0 draw. His first international goals for the senior team came in a

2018 World Cup qualifying The 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification process was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations to decide 31 of the 32 teams which would play in the 2018 FIFA World Cup, with Russia qualifying automatically as hosts. All 210 ...

match against the Netherlands, scoring twice as France won 4–0. On 17 May 2018, he was called up by manager Didier Deschamps to the 23-man French squad for the

in Russia. He made his only appearance of the tournament in France's final group match against Denmark on 26 June, which ended in a 0–0 draw. On 15 July, France won the World Cup for the second time in their history after defeating Croatia 4–2 in the final of the tournament.

Style of play

Lemar is a versatile midfielder able to play on both wings as well as through the centre and in a free role. He is predominantly left footed, but is also competent with his right foot. He is noted for his excellent dribbling skills, strong passing ability and free kicks. He has said he prefers to link-up with teammates, rather than taking on defenders: "I am trying to avoid duels and concentrate on passing as much as possible." He will often attempt to score from long range.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''As of match played 1 September 2021. France score listed first, score column indicates score after each Lemar goal.''

Honours

Monaco *

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

: 2016–17 Atlético Madrid * La Liga:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

* UEFA Super Cup:

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

France * FIFA World Cup:

Individual * UEFA Champions League Breakthrough XI: 2016 * UNFP Ligue 1 Player of the Month: November 2016 Orders *

Knight of the Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon, ...

: 2018

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lemar, Thomas 1995 births Living people People from Baie-Mahault French footballers France youth international footballers France under-21 international footballers France international footballers Guadeloupean footballers Association football midfielders Association football wingers Stade Malherbe Caen players AS Monaco FC players Atlético Madrid footballers Championnat National 2 players Championnat National 3 players Ligue 2 players Ligue 1 players La Liga players 2018 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2020 players FIFA World Cup-winning players French expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Monaco Expatriate footballers in Spain French expatriate sportspeople in Monaco French expatriate sportspeople in Spain Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur Black French sportspeople French people of Guadeloupean descent