Despite the willingness expressed by Barcelona manager Ronald Koeman to make a deal with Manchester United on Ousmane Dembele, the Frenchman is not leaving Camp Nou anytime soon. Dembele's reported transfer to Old Trafford is not pushing through as the latest reports indicated the deal negotiations are off.
It appeared that the two sides have disagreed on how the deal should have played out. United sought to sign Dembele on a loan deal and ready to pay £55 million for the player. But Barcelona wanted to offload the France international and use the money for target signings.
That should mean the Catalans are looking to get a higher price for Dembele and the deal seemed to have collapsed when United refused to shell out more cash for the 23-year-old winger.
According to Mirror, United will no longer pursue Dembele and will allow the transfer deadline to pass without a clear agreement with the Spanish giants.
The failure to complete the deal is another signing setback for United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. The Norwegian has set his sight on Jadon Sancho as a priority target in the summer but a pricing disagreement with Borussia Dortmund made it hard to push the transfer over the line.
United conceded defeat in bringing Sancho back to the Premier League this summer but made efforts to cushion the disappointment but attempting to sign Dembele instead. The twin signing failure, however, highlighted United's inability to secure the signing of players that will boost the chance of the Red Devils waging a better campaign this season.
Pundits have criticized United for their recruitment approach in the summer, citing the signings completed by Premier League rivals despite the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. Chelsea, Everton, and Liverpool have quietly secured players' signature in the past months while United struggled to even make a dent on the market.
The pursuit of Dembele this summer is a case in point of United's frustrations in the transfer market. The Barcelona man was deemed a sure signing for Solskjaer's side and this was buoyed by the latest indication from Koeman.
Metro reported that the Barca boss is ready to release the injury-plagued player to United and even expressed readiness to seal an agreement at the 11th hour.
"There are things that can happen but at the moment he is a Barcelona player. There is one more day - players can enter or leave," Koeman was reported as saying.
The willingness to make a deal on Dembele was Koeman wanting to secure the money that will finance his intention to sign Lyon striker Memphis Depay. Previously, the Dutchman has made clear that Dembele is not on his game plan, preferring instead Depay, who previously worked with the coach in the Netherlands team.
Still, United failed to capitalize on Barcelona's interest for the deal to be completed and allowed Dembele to slip out of their hands.
