Arsenal linked with move for Barcelona’s £135.5 million Frenchman

Arsenal linked with move for Barcelona’s £135.5 million Frenchman

ARSENAL transfer chief Sven Mislintat has contacted Barcelona over a potential deal for Ousmane Dembele, according to reports. 

Dembele has heavily rumoured to be on his way out of the Camp Nou after Barcelona secured the €41 million signing of Brazilian Malcom last week.


A number of clubs, including Liverpool and Chelsea, are thought to be interested in Dembele, however it is Arsenal who have taken the first step in trying to lure him to the Premier League, with Football London reporting Mislintat has contacted the La Liga giants regarding a potentials switch to North London.

Mislintat knows Dembele well from his at Borussia Dortmund, with the German helping broker the 21-year-old’s £135.5 million move to Barca last summer.

Arsenal’s transfer chief has already had an extremely busy summer at The Emirates, helping to bring in five new signings in the form of Stephan Lichtsteiner, Bernd Leno, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi.

If Dembele is to become Arsenal’s sixth signing of the summer however, it is likely they will either have to pay an extraordinary fee or broker a loan-deal, with Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde insisting the Frenchman remains a big part of the club’s future.

Valverde said: “We have to realise he just got here. He’s had some injuries and getting playing time in our team is not easy.

“He’s an incredible talent, technically outstanding, he’s quick, a difference-maker.

“Maybe he needs to work on defence a little bit and some other areas. Maybe putting on pressure after we lose the ball.

“But we know he’s young, he’s had a tough season and we hope he will continue to develop next year.”

If the Gunners were to pull off such a deal it would certainly make their main rivals like Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur sit up and take notice.

Dembele is certainly something special – his true potential has not been unlocked yet mainly due to a really bad run of injuries which have hindered his development of late and the pressure of living up to a £135.5million transfer fee is a serious responsibility for a young man who is still just trying to find his way in the world.

Dembele did come back towards the end of the season for Barca and looked good as he worked back after a long injury lay-off and added four goals in the last weeks of the season which saw him do enough to be a part of the French World Cup 2018 winning squad.

The idea of a loan to Arsenal to play for a quality coach like Unai Emery and work with a man in Sven Mislintat who he knows from his Dortmund days and possibly get more game time than he would in Barcelona might be a good fit for Ousmane Dembele although the desire to prove yourself at the Nou Camp must be immense for the youngster especially after such a frustrating debut season.

Arsenal would surely like to add such a quality player as Dembele if they could work out some kind of loan fee which the board could swallow and assuming Unai Emery sees the super talented Frenchman as a good fit for his team. Of course parent club Barcelona would need to be satisfied that the young forward would have a better chance of more 1st team game time under Emery than he would have under Valverde so don’t be surprised if a loan deal comes to fruition which might suit all parties.

It has to be a long shot but given the business done at the Emirates already this summer a deal like this would be the icing on the cake – the addition of a mega-talented 21 year old potential superstar who just needs the right situation for him to flourish and develop into the star his raw talent indicates he is. Let’s hope the Emirates is that place.