Manchester United have reportedly submitted a late offer to land French striker Moussa Dembele from Lyon.
According to French journalist Manu Lonjon, Manchester United seem to be harbouring late hopes of signing Moussa Dembele. The Premier League heavyweights seem to have tabled a bid to Lyon for the French striker, although the valuation of this offer is unclear.
Offre anglaise pour M Dembele ( OL ) ! Ce serait Manu Utd !
— Manu ⭐️⭐️ (@ManuLonjon) August 6, 2019
Dembele has been on a constantly upward trajectory since leaving PSG for Fulham in 2012. The Frenchman went on to feature 64 times for the Cottagers before joining Celtic in the summer of 2016. And, it is in Scotland where he saw the spotlight shining bright on him.
Dembele enjoyed two fruitful campaigns with the Bhoys, with 51 goals and 18 assists in 94 outings for them, before joining Lyon last summer. A mainstay in attack for Les Gones last term, Dembele turned out 46 times, finding the back of the net on 20 occasions. Having continued being a prolific striker for the Ligue 1 outfit, interest from Manchester United has rightly surfaced this summer.
Manchester United are in a precarious situation concerning Romelu Lukaku. The Belgian looked set to be on his way to Juventus, with Paulo Dybala heading the other way as part of a swap deal. But, as per recent developments, the deal is off due to the Argentine’s demands of exorbitant wages as well as a steep agent fee.
Instead, Tottenham have been heavily linked with a move for Dybala, as per recent reports. Lukaku, meanwhile, continues to be linked with a summer exit from Old Trafford, having created a stir with recent pictures of training with Anderlecht. This leaves Manchester United in a spot of bother.
While the likes of first-choice striker Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood remain options to play upfront, the fact that they are all candidates to play out wide as well means that Manchester United can certainly do with another striker.
As a result, Dembele is a viable target to replace Lukaku. And, if Manu Lonjon is to be believed, Manchester United have submitted an offer to Lyon for the 23-year-old. However, their prospects of signing the Frenchman are likely to be tough, following recent comments from Jean-Michel Aulas in an interview with RMC Sport.
“There is no room for doubt. We have not anticipated this in the way we organised things and Moussa himself, to my knowledge, is not asking to leave. In any case, whatever the potential offers that are supposedly there, and we do not have any as far as I am aware, I haven’t received any directly, Moussa will be with us for all of this season at least.”
The exactly valuation of Manchester United’s offer remains unclear, but all things considered, a deal for Dembele might be difficult to strike, considering Lyon’s resolve in keeping him as well as the fact that there are less than two days left for the British transfer deadline.
