Manchester United are willing to sign Barcelona attacker Ousmane Dembele before the transfer window closes on Monday night, Spanish publication Sport (today’s edition, page 4) claims.
The France international has entered the final six months of his Blaugrana contract, and he has no plans of extending his stay after the club’s offer of a short-term renewal with a pay-cut.
He has been fancied to head to the Premier League before the transfer deadline, and it is reported that United could be among the front-runners to land his signature.
The Red Devils are reportedly ‘willing to sign’ this month. Ralf Rangnick has been a great admirer of his talents, and previously tried to recruit him for RB Leipzig in 2016.
Dembele has endured an injury-plagued spell with the Catalan giants. He has registered just 129 appearances for the club since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2017.
He appeared to have overcome his injury woes last term, registering 16 goal contributions from 44 appearances. However, he ended up suffering a long-term knee injury on France duty.
The 24-year-old is now fully fit without any fitness issues, but United could be better off looking elsewhere if they want to bolster their attack before tomorrow’s transfer deadline.
The Blaugrana are eyeing £18 million for the attacker. It has also been reported that he would look for wages of around £210,000-a-week, similar to what he is currently earning.
While Dembele can be a match-winner with superb individual attributes, it appears too big a risk to sign him permanently, given he has spent nearly 700 days on the sidelines since 2017.
A temporary move won’t do much harm for the Red Devils, but there appears plenty of interest in signing him while the Blaugrana are determined to recoup transfer funds.