Unai Emery keen to land Barcelona flop as first Arsenal signing

Unai Emery keen to land Barcelona flop as first Arsenal signing

Unai Emery will look to make Barcelona flop Ousmane Dembele his first signing as Arsenal manager, according to reports from Spain.

Dembele moved to Barcelona last summer in a €130 million deal from Borussia Dortmund, but has struggled to make an impact since his arrival at the Camp Nou.


An injury on his debut kept the France international out until just before Christmas, and since his return the 21-year-old has managed only four goals in 20 appearances for the Catalans.

Barcelona are now keen to offload Dembele this summer in order to fund a move for Atletico Madrid striker Antoine Griezmann.

And according to Don Balon, it is Arsenal who are most willing to take the Frenchman off of Barca’s hands – with Unai Emery looking to add the flying winger to his squad to help meet the Gunners’ European ambitions next season.

Emery however is likely to be limited to a transfer budget of around £70 million this summer, which would not be enough to meet Barcelona’s valuation of Dembele – meaning Emery would first have to sell one or more of his players to raise funds for any potential deal.

Don Balon also suggest Arsenal could take Dembele on a season-long loan, with an option to buy next season should the move work out.

Liverpool are also understood to be monitoring Dembele’s situation, with Jurgen Klopp a big admirer of the former Dortmund star.