Manchester United are yet to make a decisive move for a winger in the transfer market.
BBC Sport report United must choose between meeting Dortmund’s asking price for Jadon Sancho, or a cheaper alternative like Ousmane Dembele.
A move for Dembele has clear downsides. He is very evidently a second choice, and he has a terrible injury history, playing just nine games for Barcelona last season.
But for one moment, we will choose to set these aside and look at the positives.
Here are three reasons to support a potential move for Dembele…
United need a winger
If United can’t sign Sancho, then we need to get somebody in. Ousmane Dembele would give the club an exciting option.
Dembele can play on the left and right wing, giving United added flexibility in team selections.
This is crucial for United to rest Marcus Rashford and Mason Greenwood while still keeping the same quality in attack.
Dembele makes United more unpredictable, during games, and in the build-up, as opponents will not be able to so easily predict United’s starting front three.
He’s a special talent
You have to set aside the injuries here for a moment. Dembele plays for Barcelona for a reason.
The La Liga club agreed to pay a fee of £135.5 million to Dortmund to sign Dembele in 2017, making Jadon Sancho look cheap by comparison.
If not for injuries, United would be unable to sign him. Now he could be available for less than half that fee, or on loan.
This could be pointed to as the type of opportunism in the market Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wanted.
Dembele was described by Mikael Silvestre in 2017 as comparable to Cristiano Ronaldo in terms of talent [ESPN].
He needs a change of club to kick on, and if you subscribe to the point of view that injuries are simply bad luck, then Dembele’s fortune is due to turn. He is worth taking a gamble on.
Low commitment
If United are looking at a loan, then there is not much downside here.
A quality winger joins the team, and if injuries wreck his time at United, then he returns to Barcelona and we look elsewhere next summer.
In the event United sign Dembele permanently, then this can still work out if his wages are sensible.
Dembele is only 23-years-old, and if his spell at Old Trafford is not successful, he should still have some resale value, with other clubs wanting to take a similar gamble on him.
- Every former Man Utd player to play in MLS after Eric Bailly’s latest move
- Jason Wilcox has just shown why Amorim had to be sacked with pointed praise for Michael Carrick
- Newcastle’s £46m rejected bid proves that Man Utd have completed the best deal of the summer
- Michael Carrick might have provided a hint on Patrick Dorgu plans as transfer priority becomes clear
- Who is Tynan Thompson? Exciting Spurs wonderkid linked with move to Man Utd
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
