Italian transfer journalist supremo Fabrizio Romano has claimed that Liverpool approached Ousmane Dembele about a loan deal this season but says the Frenchman rejected our advances.
The Reds signed Diogo Jota a few weeks back on a permanent deal, but according to Romano, the Portugal international may not have been our first-choice…
He reckons Jurgen Klopp and Michael Edwards initially wanted Barcelona’s controversial winger, but had to choose an alternative target after Dembele said no, thank you.
Romano made the point in reference to Manchester United’s current pursuit of Dembele, after having their latest bid for Borussia Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho flatly rejected by the increasingly baffled Germans, who gave our English rivals a deadline to meet their asking price months back.
Man United have now opened talks with Barcelona for Ousmane Démbélé. #MUFC are offering a loan for Démbélé – while Sancho deal with BVB is stalling.
Man Utd also contacted player's agent, putting so much effort to convince the player who already refused #LFC loan on June. 🔴
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 30, 2020
Manchester United are trying to convince Ousmane Démbélé to join the club after he said no to #LFC [on loan] and to Juve [permanent] on last June.
Meanwhile, #MUFC are negotiating with Barça to sign him on simple loan or with buy option [#FCB were asking for permanent deal]. 🔴— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) September 30, 2020
While we know Klopp admires Dembele as a player, we’re struggling to believe we’d have gone for such an injury-prone player whose personal history is so littered with incidents that paint him in a negative light.
Jota is a team player with marvellous industry, but Dembele, while insanely talented, has not managed to fulfil his potential and has stagnated in Spain.
Even if we did go for him first, we’re happy with how it turned out.