Man Utd closing-in on move to sign 23-year-old star, deal could cost £45.7m | OneFootball

Manchester United are closing-in on a move to sign Barcelona attacker Ousmane Dembele after failing to agree a deal with Borussia Dortmund for Jadon Sancho, according to Spanish outlet AS.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is desperate to further strengthen his squad before the transfer window shuts next week as he’s only managed to bring-in Dutch midfielder Donny van de Beek from Ajax so far this summer.

A new attacker is on the agenda as Solskjaer seemingly wants to add competition for the likes of Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood but Man Utd have struggled to land number one target Jadon Sancho.

The Manchester giants have been chasing the 20-year-old all summer but Sky Sports News claims Dortmund have rejected United’s £91.3m offer and insist Sancho won’t be leaving after a deal wasn’t agreed before their August 10th deadline.

This has left Solskjaer looking at alternatives and Dembele has emerged as a potential target recently with the Daily Record claiming last week that Man Utd had opened talks with Barcelona over a potential deal.

Spanish outlet AS are now claiming that Dembele is ‘very close’ to joining Manchester United in a deal that would be worth at least £45.7m [€50m] – although they speculate the final figure could be closer to £54.8m [€60m].

AS suggest that United still haven’t given up hope of signing Sancho but with a deal now looking less and less likely, a move for Dembele is being lined-up after they made the Frenchman their first choice back-up target.

However, while AS suggest that a deal for Dembele is ‘very close’, the Manchester Evening News claims Manchester United won’t buy the 23-year-old this summer and only consider him to be an emergency loan option.

The M.E.N says Untied are continuing to purse Sancho and will only look to sign Dembele on a short-term loan deal if no agreement is found with Borussia Dortmund before October 5th.

We’ll have to wait and see how things develop over the coming days but Dembele could be an excellent fall-back option to Sancho as the French winger was once considered to be one of the best young prospects in world football.

His time at the Nou Camp has been hampered by injury problems but Dembele has enormous ability so he could be a shrewd piece of business by United if they were able to keep him fully fit.