Manchester United have been linked with Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele as an alternative to Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho.
Ousmane Dembele does not want to leave Barcelona as Manchester United consider a move for the winger as an alternative to Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho. The France international has been lined up as a back-up option with talks over Sancho at a standstill.
Reports from Spain claimed on Tuesday that Dembele is very close to joining United for a fee in the region of £55million.
But it has been argued elsewhere that such claims are misplaced, with Sancho still the priority target for United heading into the final days of the window.
The Red Devils only have until 11pm next Monday to complete deals, having added just Donny van de Beek to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad so far this summer.
But The Guardian say that United do have interest in Dembele of Barcelona with the 23-year-old still a highly-rated attacker despite his troubles at the Nou Camp.
Since a big-money move from Dortmund to Barca in the summer of 2017, Dembele has struggled to produce his best form, partly due to incessant injuries.
But United clearly believe the Frenchman still has plenty to offer, with it claimed he is of interest to their hierarchy.
The Premier League club do not want a permanent deal however and would prefer a loan move, perhaps indicating that Dembele would be only a temporary stand-in before they move for Sancho again in 2021.
However, the Guardian add that regardless, Dembele is not keen on a move to Old Trafford despite his struggles in Catalonia.
Liverpool and Juventus are said to have shown interest this summer, with transfer expert Fabrizio Romano even tweeting that the wide-man rejected offers to join both clubs in the past three months.
And while it has been suggested Dembele may not be a regular feature in Ronald Koeman’s plans at Barca, he does not want to leave.
It is said that even if a deal between Barca and United was agreed, it would be difficult to persuade Dembele to move to the Premier League.
The £135m winger played just nine times across all competitions last summer after undergoing hamstring surgery but is seemingly settled in Spain.
He only started on the bench in Koeman’s first game in charge, a 4-0 La Liga win over Villarreal on Sunday with young Ansu Fati playing on the left wing and Antoine Griezmann operating on the right.
It is thought he turned up 15 minutes later than he was due to be present after Koeman demanded his players turn up an hour early.
Barca may be open to selling Dembele with Lyon forward Memphis Depay in their sights after the exit of Luis Suarez to Atletico Madrid.
United are thought to have Juventus winger Douglas Costa, Inter Milan’s Ivan Perisic and Ismaila Sarr of Watford as other options should they fail to sign Sancho.
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