BARCELONA, SPAIN - MARCH 14: N'Golo Kante of Chelsea shields the ball from Ousmane Dembele of Barcelona during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 Second Leg match FC Barcelona and Chelsea FC at Camp Nou on March 14, 2018 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
According to Spanish outlet Sport (h/t Football.London), Zinedine Zidane, who is tipped to replace Mauricio Pochettino as Paris Saint-Germain manager, has identified Chelsea target Ousmane Dembele as one of the players he would like to bring to Parc des Princes.
The 25-year-old is in his last few days as a Barcelona player, having turned down Barcelona’s latest offer for a contract extension. Finding a new club was never going to be a problem for the soon-to-be free agent, given his well-documented talent.
It hasn’t been smooth sailing in Blaugrana colours for the Frenchman. There’s been a bit of everything- sheer brilliance like his solo-run goal against Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions League, erratic form and long, frustrating spells on the sideline due to injury.
Chelsea are understood to be keen on Dembele, who could be a useful addition to Thomas Tuchel’s system. The German worked with the winger during their time together at Borussia Dortmund, helping him explode into the scene as one of Europe’s brightest, young talents.
His one season at Dortmund – in which he scored 10 goals and provided 22 assists in 50 appearances, raised his stock so high, that Barcelona signed him for a £135.5m fee to replace the departing Neymar.
If the news above is to be believed, now Dembele could possibly partner the Brazilian if Zidane is appointed as the new man to lead PSG into a new era.
There seem to be a lot of boxes that need to tick for this particular situation to become reality. According to the same report, newly appointed PSG sporting director Luis Campos is under pressure from the club’s Qatari ownership to appoint Zidane instead of Campos’ preferred choice – Nice manager Christophe Galtier.
Zidane is also believed to be wanting absolute control over club transfers, and it remains to be seen if PSG would oblige to those demands. There is not a lot of steam behind this particular development yet, but that could change anytime given the nature of the transfer window.
For that to happen, Zizou would have to first take charge of PSG and after that, the club would then have to convince Dembele to come on board. The French side already has Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Angel di Maria, Lionel Messi, and Julian Draxler in attack.
This is without taking into account Pablo Sarabia’s return from loan. And hence, it won’t be too much of a stretch to suggest that the ex-BVB star would have a better chance at regular starts under Tuchel.
This being a World Cup year, Dembele would understand the importance of regular minutes. The onus is on Chelsea now to finalise terms with Dembele at the earliest, so that this particular saga doesn’t boil down to the last moment and allow PSG or any other club the chance to hijack this deal.
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