Reports: Barcelona ready to strike a deal with Manchester United for Ousmane Dembele in January
According to France Football, Barcelona are ready to re-open negotiations with Manchester United over Ousmane Dembele in January. The Barcelona forward was heavily linked with a move to Manchester United this summer, only for the deal to fall through at the last moment.
Manchester United spent much of their summer chasing the signature of Borussia Dortmund winger Jadon Sancho, only to fail in their pursuit of the Englishman. The Red Devils then switched their attention to Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele.
Manchester United had begun negotiations with Barcelona for Dembele in the final few days of the summer transfer window, but ultimately failed to get their man. Reports suggested that United were keen to sign Dembele on loan, whereas Barcelona were only willing to sell him permanently.
However, it has been reported that all the paperwork was complete for the deal to go through but a last-minute decision from Dembele saw it fall through.
Barcelona believed that the sale of Dembele would create enough space in the squad and wiggle room in the wage budget to allow them to sign Lyon attacker Memphis Depay.
Barcelona boss Ronald Koeman has made no secret of his desire to sign Depay for his team.
Koeman has also overseen the departures of a number of big-name players from the Barcelona squad this summer, as he did not see them as a part of his plans.
Barcelona are looking to sell Ousmane Dembele to Manchester United to fund a deal for Memphis Depay
Koeman sanctioned the sales of Nelson Semedo, Ivan Rakitic, Luis Suarez and Arturo Vidal and is now rumoured to be open to selling Ousmane Dembele in order to raise funds to sign Depay.
The Catalans will once again renegotiate terms with Manchester United and Dembele's agent in the winter transfer market towards that end.
Manchester United are still in need of a right-winger, and it seems like their best shot at signing one in January is through Ousmane Dembele.
United have had a mini resurgence to form this past week, with a 4-1 victory over Newcastle and an impressive 2-1 away victory against PSG in the Champions League.
The Red Devils' defense has been the main problem for manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. It will be interesting to see if the Norwegian chooses to spend money on a top quality center-back or another attacker.