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This article is part of Football FanCast’s Transfer Focus series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent transfer news…
Lyon’s Moussa Dembele will be a target for Manchester United should Romelu Lukaku leave the club this summer, Sky Sports understands.
What’s the story?
The former Celtic striker will be on Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s shortlist should Lukaku leave Old Trafford. Inter Milan are heavily linked with the Belgium international.
Dembele took to life in Ligue 1 like a duck to water last season. The Frenchman scored 20 times in 46 appearances back in his homeland after he departed Parkhead for a £19.7m fee last August.
What was more impressive about his debut season in France was his goals to minutes ratio. The striker bagged a goal every 142 minutes, or roughly two goals in every three games, so it’s perhaps no surprise to see the Red Devils eyeing a move.
Given Lyon only just signed the 23 year-old as well as the fact he had such an exceptional first campaign, United would likely need to pay significantly more than that £19.7m fee, which is really good news for Celtic.
The perfect boost?
It’s been a busy summer for Celtic, with four new faces brought in, many departing the club and rumours rife of potential departures away from Parkhead.
Kieran Tierney’s Arsenal saga takes a new twist seemingly every day, Olivier Ntcham deemed himself too good for the Scottish Premiership and Jozo Simunovic is a target for Lille, according to The Scottish Sun.
Those three departures could bring in a serious bit of money to Lennon’s Celts but the club is far from desperate to sell. The Bhoys announced at the end of the financial year that they had generous cash reserves, so shouldn’t be in a hurry to flog their stars to the first bidder.
And one way they could add to their millions in the bank, while also not losing a key player, is by reaping the benefits of the sell-on clause they negotiated in Dembele’s departure.
The Scottish Sun confirmed that the Celts have such a clause in his deal and it might well transform their summer plans, potentially even deciding the fates of Tierney, Ntcham and Simunovic, depending on the size of the cut.
It’s not known what the exact details of the clause are but given the fees swirling around strikers in the Premier League, and Dembele’s impressive form since Lyon spent nearly £20m on him, any cut Celtic get is bound to boost their kitty, potentially allowing them to keep at least one, if not multiple, of the aforementioned trio.
The club is already in no rush to sell key players, and a nice windfall from a big-money move to the Premier League for Dembele could be just the boost required to hang on to those exit-linked stars.
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