Manchester United are reportedly increasingly confident of signing French striker Moussa Dembele this summer with a £60 million deal mooted, according to reports. It has been suggested that the Frenchman has made it clear that he would rather sign for United than Chelsea, who are also interested in bringing the player back to London.
The Old Trafford club are optimistic of signing the 23-year-old Ligue 1 striker has scored 22 goals and a further seven assists in 42 appearances for Lyon this season, playing in Ligue 1, the UEFA Champions League, the Coupe de France and the Coupe de la Ligue – playing a total of 3,309 minutes of football before the league was cancelled.
Last month, it was announced by the French Government that sporting events in the country were to be banned until at least September because of the coronavirus pandemic, this resulted in Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 being cancelled – some players feel that this was too early a call to make, but it happened making Paris Saint-Germain the champions again.
The form of the Frenchman this season prompted Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to send scouts to watch him on three occasions this season, giving more weight in the fact that United seem to be pursuing the player to the point whereby they want to sign him. The 23-year-old was linked to United last summer with the departure of Romelu Lukaku.
Dembele was also high up Frank Lampard’s wish list for the summer with the Chelsea manager seeking to bolster his attacking options. The London club made a bid for the player during the January transfer window, which failed. However, the Lyon president, Jean-Michel Aulas, has admitted that he may be forced to cash in on the player this summer.
The club finished seventh in Ligue 1 this season, after the league being cancelled, which may force the club to take legal action as this was the first time the club had finished outside European competition places for the last 23 years and for this reason, the club could lose some of their prized assets, of which Dembele is one.
Dembele has knowledge of football in England, coming through the academy at Fulham and playing 64 times for the first team, scoring 19 goals and a further nine assists at the club. He was then sold to Celtic where he played 94 times for the Scottish club, scoring 51 goals and a8 assists at the club. He knows how to find the back of the net.
At Lyon, where he has spent the past two seasons, Dembele has played 88 times, scoring 42 goals and 13 assists at the club helping him catch the attention of United and Chelsea. Solskjaer seems to be a big admirer of the player and there is no doubt that the Frenchman would form a good attacking presence with Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford.
United will have a lot of work to do during the summer transfer window, whenever it opens as the 2019/20 season has not yet been concluded, although we could know more at the beginning of next week with this week being a big week for Project Restart, which is finding a way of completing the season, although it could still be cancelled yet.
