Both Man United and Chelsea want to sign a new centre-forward for the 2020-21 season and Lyon’s Moussa Dembele has been on their radar for quite some time.
Dembele joined Lyon from Celtic in 2018 for a transfer fee of €22 million and the Frenchman has carried his Premiership form back to his homeland. This season, the 23-year-old has scored 16 goals in just 27 Ligue 1 matches.
Having moved to France just two years ago, some experts were more than certain that Lyon are not yet ready to cash in on the forward but as per the club’s president, Jean-Michel Aulas that is certainly not the case.
Aulas has made it clear that his club will do everything to hold onto their players but at the same time has admitted that some of them could be tempted to leave in the summer.
“I am going to do everything to keep the players,” the Lyon chief told Le Progres in France, as per the Standard.
“But players who are programmed to play in Europe could want to go elsewhere because we don’t have European football.”
Is Moussa Dembele likely to join Man United or Chelsea?
This is great news for both Manchester United and Chelsea who badly need a top-class centre-forward for the next season. But clearly they will need to secure Champions League qualification next season if they want to make a serious move for Dembele.
Right now, Chelsea occupy the fourth spot on the Premier League table while Man United are fifth – which should also be enough to play in the UCL next campaign as Man City are currently banned.
But all this could change really quickly once the 2019-20 season resumes next month.
Right now, Chelsea and Man United make up the final two Champions League spots but teams like Wolves, Sheffield United and Spurs are breathing right down their necks.
So if they were to slide down the table by the end of the season then Moussa Dembele will most certainly choose to snub a move to either of these two sides.
Thankfully though, the Lyon man isn’t the only striker which these two clubs are looking at with Chelsea chasing players like Dries Mertens and Timo Werner while Man United are trying to bring in forwards like Harry Kane.
