Liverpool have reportedly been told to splash over £90 million if they want to sign French international Ousmane Dembele from La Liga champions Barcelona.

According to an exclusive report from TEAMtalk, Liverpool have been told to cough up a transfer fee in excess of £90 million, if they want to sign World Cup winning attacker Ousmane Dembele from La Liga giants Barcelona.

Dembele joined Barcelona from German heavyweights Borussia Dortmund in a deal that saw the Catalans shell out an initial transfer fee of a little over £90 million. The French international was brought in to offset the departure of Brazilian superstar Neymar, who had completed a world record transfer to PSG.

Dembele did not have the best of first seasons at Camp Nou, but during the 2018-19 season, the 22-year-old grew into an important player for Barcelona under Ernesto Valverde. He ended the season with 14 goals and 9 assists from 42 matches in all competitions, despite missing a good chunk of games due to injury.

However, the report claims that Barcelona are open to cashing in on the 22-year-old Frenchman, as they are close to signing his compatriot Antoine Griezmann from Atletico Madrid. Given the huge financial outlay for Griezmann and Frenkie de Jong, who has arrived from Ajax, Barcelona are keen on recouping some money and to that end, are looking to offload Dembele.

Set to swap Barcelona for Liverpool? (Photo by Pau Barrena/AFP/Getty Images)
Set to swap Barcelona for Liverpool? (Photo by Pau Barrena/AFP/Getty Images)

This development seems to have put Liverpool on high alert. Dembele is a player that is greatly admired by the Reds’ manager Jurgen Klopp. In fact, the reigning European champions had been heavily linked with a move for the attacker last summer and his potential availability this time out means they are set to rekindle their interest, as per the report.

After enjoying a fantastic 2018-19 campaign, during which they lifted their sixth European Cup and finished runners-up in the Premier League, Liverpool will be looking to take a sustain that level of performance over the coming season and have identified the attacking department as an area that could use some bolstering.

In Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, Liverpool have one of the deadliest first-choice attacking forces but they lack enough quality beyond the trio, with Xherdan Shaqiri not particularly making a great impact in his debut campaign. To that end, the Merseyside giants had been linked with a move for Lille’s Nicolas Pepe, but Dembele has now emerged as a target.

The report further adds that Dembele too favours a transfer to Liverpool. However, for a deal to go through, Barcelona are demanding a transfer fee of around the £90 million figure – similar to what they had paid Dortmund two years ago.

With Griezmann likely to arrive, there are likely to be some exits from Barcelona. But, it remains to be seen if they are ready to cash in on someone as young and talented as Dembele this summer. And, if so, it will be interesting to see if Liverpool decide to move in on him or continue with their pursuit of Pepe instead.

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