Liverpool have been widely linked with a move for Ousmane Dembele this summer and now it appears Barcelona are reaching out to interested parties.
Signed last summer for a club record fee of around £97 million, rising to £135 million, Dembele was brought in by the Camp Nou club to replace the outgoing Neymar.
He didn’t quite have the hoped-for impact, though, as a torn hamstring early on in his Barca career hampered his settling-in period.
His fee, since eclipsed by the £142m in total that the Reds could receive for Philippe Coutinho, also seemed to weigh heavily as he failed to regularly live up to expectations in the second half of the season.
The rumours started not long after and Jurgen Klopp was memorably asked about a move supposedly made for him during a Liverpool match—which the boss laughed off.
Speculation has continued, however, and it won’t be going away any time soon—particularly after reports out of Catalunya this week.
Catalan radio station RAC1 report that Barcelona are in fact contacting clubs around Europe who might be interested in signing Dembele, either on a loan or permanent deal.
It’s no secret that the Reds will be looking to add a new face to the attacking lineup this summer, both to offer depth and maintain the quality of the current front three when one needs resting.
Dembele—all pace, trickery, good vision at his best—would fit the bill in a technical sense, and he could play either side of the centre-forward.
Recently the reliable Mohamed Bouhafi told SFR Sport that the Reds wanted Dembele on loan with an option to buy, though the Camp Nou side remained adamant the French international remained unavailable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MxtM2aVkc-s
Dembele recently played perhaps his best game so far for Barcelona, starring in a 5-1 victory over Villarreal.
There he scored twice—accounting for half his goal tally for the entire campaign.
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