French international Ousmane Dembélé looks set to depart Barcelona imminently, with Liverpool a possible destination for the winger.
Having arrived from Borussia Dortmund in 2017 for a mouth-watering initial fee of €105m, the 22-year-old has not played as well as the Blaugrana had hoped, with hamstring issues preventing him from playing regularly at Camp Nou.
As a result, Barça has been keen to offload the talented attacker, with many European clubs including Liverpool and Arsenal retaining an interest in signing him.
And Spanish publication AS (via Sport Witness) claim that executives at the Spanish club have even 'joked' about selling Dembélé. The paper reported that an anonymous club official has recently jokingly asked a club doctor when the French international would be fit again, so that he could be waved in front of potential buyers as soon as possible.
The attacker is estimated to be available for a fee of €80m, and the Reds should be able to get a deal done if they are still looking to sign him, with the Catalans clearly happy to swiftly get him off their books.
Dembélé is said to be keen on a move to the Premier League, which will give the Merseyside club an advantage in securing his signature over other suitors.
He made his senior debut at Rennes in November 2015, before securing a move to Dortmund in the following summer. But he only stayed for one year at Die Schwarzgelben before the Blaugrana came calling and edged out other clubs to sign him.
Those at Camp Nou are now focusing on bringing in a star forward, with signing Inter's Lautaro Martínez and bringing back Neymar from Paris Saint-Germain said to be the main priority for Barça this summer.
And with Liverpool looking to add attacking depth behind the likes of Sadio Mané and Mohamed Salah, signing Dembélé could be a step towards evolving their bench options.
Source : 90min