Since Diego Costa announced his desire to terminate the contract, two weeks ago, Atlético had very clear the parameters that his replacement had to meet.
The first, and most important, his arrival on loan, because the rojiblanca economy, and more this season conditioned from start to finish by Covid-19, is as is.
The second, no less crucial, that the possible purchase option was not mandatory and was only executed according to the player's response until June, as happened a year ago with Carrasco.
And in that panorama appears the name of Moussa Dembélé (24 years old), French striker for Olympique de Lyon.
The forward's cache has been devalued in these months of course, with a single goal in 16 games and a broken arm in training, which has prevented him from playing for almost a month.
So,
Jean-Michel Aulas
, president of the French team, with whom they already negotiated in summer 2017 for
Alexandre Lacazette
(the FIFA sanction truncated the transfer), and with whom it is never easy to deal with, has had no problem in sit down to find a solution for the future of Dembélé, for which they paid 22 million to Celtic from Glasgow (51 goals in 94 games), in 2018. "We are still working to close it," they acknowledged this Sunday from the rojiblanco club.
The player was on
Andrea Berta's
radar
and the objective is to achieve a loan with a non-compulsory purchase option at the end of the course.
According to Marca, the price of the hypothetical transfer, subject to sports performance, would be
33 million euros
.
The player's value, according to the specialized website Transfermarkt, is 30 million, although his price reached 50 million in March, when
Manchester United
wanted to take him.
Guardiola's double against City
Dembélé scores a goal against City in the last Champions League.
And it is that his performance until the beginning of this erratic season attracted attention in Europe.
20 goals in his debut and 24 in his second episode in Lyon, with a decisive double against Manchester City by
Pep Guardiola
, last summer, in the quarterfinals of the last Champions League.
An achievement in just a quarter of an hour on the grass.
"I think Moussa Dembélé has reached an agreement with Atlético,"
Juninho Pernambucano
, Lyon's sports director
, admitted on Saturday
.
"There is a possibility that he will leave. Nothing has been done, but we are talking with Atlético," added the Brazilian.
And in those are Atlético, trying to close a necessary operation to give
Luis Suárez
oxygen
and, in the event of an unforeseen event from the Uruguayan, to have a reliable alternative.
Because Simeone has always made it clear that
Saponjic
, the other 9 in the team, is not part of his plans.
There are still some details to the operation and, also, a few weeks of recovery for the striker, who would coincide with his compatriot
Thomas Lemar
, to recover from the broken arm that has prevented him from playing for a month.
Atlético, like Barça, finalize the details to have their Dembélé.
A key piece for the leader of the League, in the second round of the Champions League, to fight with guarantees for the two competitions in which he competes, after his recent KO in the Cup.
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