Dembele to stay at Barcelona despite Manchester United interest
Manchester United fail to reach deal with Barcelona superstar.
The transfer speculation surrounding Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembélé appears to be over as he is set to stay at the Catalan club.
According to Mundo Deportivo, the Frenchman is focusing on this season with Barcelona with the hope that his injuries are behind him and that he can impress new manager Ronald Koeman.
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Despite reports stating that Dembélé was actually contemplating leaving and that Manchester United had accelerated negotiations, a move was unlikely at best.
When talks with Manchester United surfaced, Barcelona were adamant that the only way they would let Dembélé leave was on a permanent deal. United were only willing to sign him on a loan.
What added, or has been adding, fuel to the fire was his lack of playing time since the season started. He played twenty minutes in their opener against Villarreal and was unused substitute against Celta Vigo and Sevilla.
The youngsters, Pedri and Trincao, seem to be ahead of him in the pecking order.
When the question was put to Koeman as to why Dembélé didn’t play against Celta, Koeman’s response was that he didn’t give the team enough cover defensively. Whatever confidence he seemed to have in Dembélé during preseason has slowly evaporated.
When asked about Dembélé’s future after the Sevilla match, Koeman did not exactly shut the door on a possible exit.
"“What is certain in the world? I don’t know.“At the moment, he’s a Barcelona player. There’s still one more day left for incomings and outgoings. We’ll see.”Source: Goal"
Dembélé’s exit would have meant that Koeman would have gotten his striker in Memphis Depay. The only way the club were signing Depay was if Dembélé left. That now looks very unlikely.
His lack of playing time could be explained that they were waiting for a deal to come through. With him staying, perhaps now he’ll get more playing time. Injuries have plagued him ever since he arrived from Borussia Dortmund. In any respect, this might be Dembélé’s last opportunity to resurrect his Barcelona career.