Sports

Manchester United prepare £43m bid for Moussa Dembele

Published

January 22, 2020

Manchester United have joined Chelsea in the race for Moussa Dembele by reportedly preparing a £43 million bid for the Lyon striker.

According to Foot Mercato, the Red Devils are set to make an initial offer of £43m plus bonuses for the former Fulham and Celtic forward.

United’s problems in attack have increased in the past week following Marcus Rashford’s injury after the England striker was ruled out for up to three months with a double stress fracture in his back suffered in their FA Cup third-round replay win over Wolves.

The 22-year-old striker has struggled with a back problem for some time and uses a Melmak fracture healing device to ease the pain with ultrasound.

And with Rashford out for the foreseeable future, United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has only Anthony Martial and Mason Greenwood at his centre-forward disposal.

And in a bid to ease the burden on Martial and Greenwood, Solskjaer has reportedly turned his attention toward luring Dembele to Old Trafford.

The 23-year-old, who is also a Chelsea target, has scored 13 goals in 28 appearances in all competitions this season – including the decisive strike in their 4-3 Ligue 1 win at Nantes on Saturday.

Despite the wide-ranging interest in the striker, Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas has ruled out selling Dembele in January.

Speaking on RMC last week, he said:

“We have not changed our minds. We already made this issue clear in August.

“Moussa is an excellent player. A player who we need.

“We are taking explicit measures in our recruitment to not bring someone in who will compete for his position. It is not a question of money. Moussa will be with us.”