Reports: Manchester United enter the race to sign £120 million Barcelona star
What's the rumour?
According to the Mirror, Manchester United has entered the race to sign French star Ousmane Dembele from Barcelona this summer. Barcelona signed Dembele from Borussia Dortmund last season, for an exorbitant fee of £135.5 million. His integration into the team hasn't been smooth and Barcelona seem okay to let him go so soon.
Also, as reported by Skysports, Manchester United rejected a £45 million plus Yerry Mina and Andre Gomes bid from Barcelona for the services of Paul Pogba.
With United interested in Dembele and Barcelona interested in Pogba- a player swap-deal is a possible solution. And, according to Mundo Deportivo, Barcelona is ready to use Dembele as bait to lure Pogba away from United.
In case you didn't know..
The Dembele transfer saga started off a couple of weeks ago. Unai Emery has been greatly interested in bringing Dembele to Arsenal this summer. According to Mundo Deportivo, Arsenal is ready to pay Barcelona a £10 million loan fee for a year with the condition that the move will be made permanent next year for an additional £90 million.
On the other hand, according to The Standard, Paul Pogba has agreed to sign for Barcelona on a five-year deal.
Pogba and Mourinho don't enjoy a great working relationship- that's a fact. Maybe that will give Pogba leverage to force a move away from the club this summer.
Heart of the matter
Paul Pogba is unhappy at Manchester United. Over the last season or so, his relationship with Mourinho has soured and is, therefore, open to a new challenge abroad.
Mourinho too hasn't had the very best of starts to the season. An irksome preseason, to say the least, he's made his opinions on United's transfer business this summer absolutely clear.
Dembele may not be Bale but he's an extremely talented young winger who has a bright future ahead of him.
But as of today, Arsenal is said to be leading the race to sign Dembele. According to The Metro, Arsenal has already launched a formal bid £89 million for the French superstar.
Rumour Rating/Probability- 4/10
Just how Chelsea cannot afford to lose Hazard this season, Manchester United cannot afford to lose Pogba this season. He's the talisman of the team whether or not Mourinho likes to accept that fact. The transfer window shuts in three days and that's the biggest reason why it's highly unlikely that this transfer will happen. One thing's for sure: Pogba is definitely going to have a say in the matter.
Video: Pogba Skills, Assists & Goals
What next?
This could turn out to be a very interesting and season-defining transfer, if it happens that is. The key ingredient of this transfer lies in the answer to the question: How bad is the relationship between Mourinho & Pogba? Is it repairable or not? If United is forced to sell Pogba this summer, only a swap-player deal will make sense.
Dembele is an exciting young player with loads of potential and getting him in return for Pogba wouldn't constitute to be bad business really. An interesting domino effect of this transfer would be that Martial will finally be allowed to leave the club.