Sky Sports Expert Claims Arsenal Have Made Offer To Sign Liverpool-Linked Attacker

The transfer window is closed but managers are planning ahead for January and next summer so we’ll bring you all the latest gossip. Today, the latest on Ousmane Dembele….

Guillem Balague claims Arsenal have made a loan-to-buy offer to sign reported Liverpool target Ousmane Dembele but Barcelona are reluctant to do business, according to the Express.

Dembele was considered to be one of the most exciting young talents in world football when he joined Barca from Borussia Dortmund in 2017 but his career stalled after enduring an injury plagued debut season at the Nou Camp.

The 21-year-old began this campaign is great form after returning to full fitness but he’s fallen out-of-favour under boss Ernesto Valverde in recent weeks amid reports the attacker’s unprofessionalism and poor time-keeping has riled the Barca hierarchy.

This has led to speculation surrounding Dembele’s future and the Express claim the French international has attracted interest from the Premier League with Arsenal and Liverpool strongly linked in recent times.

Last week, the Sun reported that Liverpool were ready to launch an £85m bid to sign Dembele as Jurgen Klopp looks to be further strengthen his attacking options and bring in competition for the likes of Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane.

It seems Liverpool face competition as football expert Balague – who works for the likes of Sky Sports and BBC5live – claims on his YouTube channel that Arsenal are the only club to make a formal approach for Dembele after offering to sign him on an initial loan with the option to buy.

However, the English giants look set for disappointment as Balague also suggests that Barcelona have no interest in letting Dembele leave this winter as they’re convinced he can rediscover the form he was showing at the start of the season.

You can watch the full video below but here is a snippet of Balague’s update on Dembele:

“The only approach from Arsenal was to get him on loan, with an option to buy. That was an intermediate, not directly from Arsenal.

“And again, Barcelona did not listen to it. Barcelona don’t want to let him go in January either. They believe that they can get something out of him.

“They think he has the potential to make a difference like he did at the start of the season.”

Arsenal have a lack of width in their squad right now and Unai Emery’s options in attack were reduced further after Danny Welbeck was ruled out for several months with a broken ankle so Dembele would have been an excellent signing had they been able to pull it off.

However, it looks like Barcelona are determined to hang on to the Frenchman until at least the end of the season so Arsenal and Liverpool may need to look elsewhere in their search for attacking reinforcements this winter.