According to a recent report from a Catalonian newspaper outlet El Nacional, Manchester City have told FC Barcelona that they want another player in exchange for Raheem Sterling.
According to the report, the player Barcelona have demanded is Ousmane Dembele, a player Pep Guardiola is very eager to add to his squad.
Dembele joined Barcelona from Borussia Dortmund in 2017, having impressed at the German club. He was signed as a long-term replacement for Neymar. However, Dembele has failed to live up to his billing at Barcelona. Constant injuries have reduced his career to a bench-warmer, having missed more games than he has featured in.
Till the time of writing, Dembele has only featured in 118 games for Barcelona, while scoring 30 goals and assisting 21. Despite his tragic time at Barcelona, the number of clubs interested in him have not reduced.
However, Manchester City’s interest has come as a surprise given Dembele’s track record of injuries. Injuries can cause a lot of problems for him in a physically tough league like the Premier League. Theoretically though. he could add a lot of value to the setup at the Etihad and perhaps even play a similar role to that of Leroy Sane.
Dembele is also being looked at as a long-term replacement for Raheem Sterling, who Barcelona want to bring to Spain. However, with Manchester City set to demand the French international as part of the deal for Sterling, things could take an interesting turn, keeping in mind Barcelona’s financial chaos.
The deal would still be in Barcelona’s favor if it’s an exchange deal as they will have a reduced wage bill and won’t have to spend extra on a player.
While it will be interesting to see if Barcelona lets go of Dembele, it will also be interesting to see how much Manchester City ask for their beloved Raheem Sterling. Arsenal are also interested in Raheem Sterling so it will be interesting to see who he chooses.
What do you think should happen in this deal?