Ousmane Dembele? by Dan Smith
This is the time of year where every football fans reads a newspaper, listen to the radio or goes online to be linked with various big name players. Most of us get to the end of the transfer window feeling silly for ever believing such rumours.
While I’ve made no secret of my thoughts on the extent of our owner’s ambition there is one story that refuses to go away, one that I see that could happen. Barcelona have not exactly been in a hurry to commit themselves to Ousmane Dembele. The fact remains though this is a talent that less then 12 months ago they were willing to give Dortmund over 100 million for. Their manager Valdere would be under pressure not to give up on a talent with such an outlay. Let’s not assume either that the Frenchman would want to give up on the Nou Camp. You would expect any top player to have the mentality to back themselves to break into any first team in the world. So a loan option might be the perfect compromise
The winger could find a suitor where he could start every week proving to his employers he can be trusted for more game time in the future. In that scenario Arsenal would become the perfect destination. It would be the rare positive aspect of being in the Europa League. Barcelona might not want to help out a rival in Europe but with us playing on Thursday nights we are not a threat.
Meanwhile we play the type of football that Spain has always admired meaning we would be trusted to surround our loanee with values and philosophy which mirrors that of Cataluña. Meanwhile Stan Kroenke keeps gooners happy and improves the squad without having to splash out on transfer fees .
It’s a deal where all parties could win.
Dan Smith