Manchester United are negotiating to sign Ousmane Dembele, report Sky Sports.
Dembele is being considered as an alternative to Jadon Sancho.
While there are concerns over Dembele’s fitness due to his poor injury record at Barcelona, the French connection is one of the plus sides to this move which United will be considering.
Being able to link up with Paul Pogba and Anthony Martial could help Dembele settle on and off the pitch.
Mutual respect
‘I would love to play with Pogba’, Dembele was quoted by The Express when quizzed about the possibility of the Manchester United midfielder joining Barcelona in 2018.
This came right after France’s World Cup win, the summer in which speculation over Pogba’s possible departure from United escalated amid tensions with Jose Mourinho.
The admiration is mutual. Pogba is a big fan of his fellow Frenchman.
This is the kind of move which might even convince Pogba to renew his contract.
Pogba talked up Dembele in 2017, saying he can go as far in his career as he wants to, along with Kylian Mbappe.
Pogba was quoted by FourFourTwo of Dembele and Mbappe: “The young people are very talented. I’ve never seen this, impose like that, being relaxed like that. They have the future before them, they must be serious. They’re kids, young people who have a head. I wish them the best, also with France.”
Together for the French national team, Dembele and Pogba have played in the same side 17 times.
France have only lost one of those 17 matches, drawing five, and winning 11.
Dembele evidently enjoys playing alongside Pogba, and may get the chance to do so more regularly.
Reached out to Martial
Dembele’s potential exit from Barcelona has been on the cards for a while.
A report from Spanish newspaper Sport claimed back in April that Dembele had been in contact with Anthony Martial.
The report read: “He has contacted his comparatiot, partner in the French team and friend Anthony Martial (two years older than him) to find out what it means to play for Manchester United.”
The pair have played together once for France, in a 3-1 win over Russia in 2018.
Now Martial has moved inside to become a central striker, rather than competing for the same role out wide, Dembele and United’s number nine could play alongside each other more regularly.
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