Ousmane Dembele’s Barcelona future discussed by pundit
Manchester United reportedly came very close to signing Ousmane Dembele towards the end of the transfer window and there is still hope that a deal could be reignited in January. The winger emerged as a potential alternative to Jadon Sancho as Borussia Dortmund held firm over the sale of the England international.
United were looking for a straight loan while Barcelona were pushing to include a permanent option.
The Barca board are now prepared to accept a loss on the Frenchman following his £135million move from Dortmund in 2017 after failing to live up to his price-tag.
United were confident they could get his career back on track at Old Trafford and unlock his world-class potential.
They even used Paul Pogba as a ploy and the midfielder held talks with his France team mate in a bid to convince him to join the club.
Man Utd came close to signing Ousmane Dembele from Barcelona earlier this month (Image: GETTY)
According to Saturday's print edition of Spanish outlet Sport, United were very close to landing Dembele in what would have been a major boost for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
The report claims there was not enough time to conclude the deal as Barcelona also wanted to extend Dembele's contract if he was to leave on loan.
At one point, it looked like all systems go as Ronald Koeman closed in on Memphis Depay, who eventually stayed at Lyon.
Now both clubs will try again in January to reach an agreement and Dembele could be available on a permanent basis for around £45million.
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Transfer expert Fabrizio Romano recently claimed Dembele was determined to stay at Barcelona and fight for his place, meaning United were faced with an uphill battle to convince the player to join.
"Remember we've talked about Dembele's situation with Liverpool and Juventus, Barcelona and Manchester United," he said on the Here We Go Podcast.
"The player's position is the same, he doesn't want to move and his agent had a meeting with Ronald Koeman one week ago.
"Koeman was talking to his agent and said 'I trust in Dembele and I want Dembele in my team' so at the moment Dembele wants to stay in Barcelona."
Ousmane Dembele wanted to stay at Barcelona amid interest from Man Utd (Image: GETTY)
Dembele has featured just once so far under Koeman in La Liga, which suggests he could be pushed towards the exit door in January.
Barca hero Rivaldo believes the 23-year-old needs to show some signs of fight if he is to turn things around at the club.
"Ousmane Dembele rejected a move in the transfer window. That wouldn't be a problem if he were playing regularly but that's not the case as he continues to get injured or miss training schedules and that's not good," the Brazilian told Betfair.
"He is an excellent player but he needs to prove that wants to play and take responsibility.
"The club paid a lot for him and they aren't seeing any return from that yet. Let's see if he can show the commitment that he'll need to become an important member of Koeman's squad."