Manchester United have identified Lyon forward Moussa Dembele as a potential replacement for wantaway striker Romelu Lukaku…
Romelu Lukaku has been wanting to leave Manchester United for quite some time now with Antonio Conte’s Inter Milan expected to be a potential destination. Conte wants to desperately sign Lukaku and has been disappointed with Inter delaying the negotiations. Lukaku too has been quite public about his desire to join forces with Conte.
Manchester United are not willing to listen to any offers for Lukaku which are below their £79 million valuation of the Belgian and have already rejected a £54 million bid from Inter Milan already.
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Lukaku is keen to join the Italian giants after slipping behind Marcus Rashford in the pecking order but Inter is gradually running out of time to match United’s asking price for the Belgian.
The Nerazzurri have also recently come out of the sanctions laid on them by UEFA for breaching the Financial Fairplay Regulations and will have to sell players like Mauro Icardi, Radja Nainggolan and Joao Mario among a few in order to raise funds to be able to finance the move for Lukaku.
However, AS reports that the Red Devils have meanwhile shortlisted a few players to replace Romelu Lukaku up front, with Olympique Lyon forward Moussa Dembele topping that list. The 23-year-old who joined Lyon in 2018 had a good debut season playing alongside Nabil Fekir and Memphis Depay.
The former Celtic man netted 15 goals in 33 Ligue 1 appearances for Lyon, while assisting 5. United have also been linked to Lille’s Nicolas Pepe but believe that Dembele would be a better replacement for Lukaku.
With Lyon having sold the likes of Tanguy Ndombele, Ferland Mendy and Nabil Fekir to Tottenham, Real Madrid and Real Betis respectively, whether or not they will sell Dembele seems to be the main question. Moussa Dembele is relatively young at 23 years of age and perfectly fits Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s policy of signing and developing young talents.
If Lyon decides to sell Dembele, he will cost United around £40 million. The Old Trafford club has already spent money on Daniel James and Aaron Wan-Bissaka and will only move for Dembele if they sell Lukaku first.
Will Inter Milan sign Lukaku in time for United to replace him with Dembele before the transfer window closes?