Emery wants £87million playmaker as priority signing for Arsenal

Arsenal need to act swiftly in the summer to secure key signings before the start of the new season under Unai Emery.

According to reports going on in the media, the north Londoners are linked with French international Ousmane Dembele, who had a torrid first season with Barca and his future is unclear.

As per renowned French source L’Equipe, Arsenal’s head of recruitment Sven Mislintat has contacted Barcelona to inquire about signing the Les Bleus playmaker. Furthermore, Mislintat, who used to work for Borussia Dortmund, has maintained constant contact with the 21-year-old attacker as well.

Read: Exclusive – Arsenal want £60million capture of Bundesliga’s record signing

As per Spanish source Sport, the contact of Arsenal with Dembele is mainly due to the interest of new boss Unai Emery, who is looking to sign him from the La Liga champions.

Barcelona paid Dortmund a mammoth fee to hire the services of the French winger last year, so it will be fair to say that he is not going to leave for cheap.

As per Don Balon, so far, no club has offered more than €60million for the former Rennais winger but the Catalan giants want at least €100million (£87million) to let him leave. Yesterday, the Spanish source reported that Emery has made Dembele his priority target for Arsenal this summer.

In the last campaign, he started 14 games in all competitions for Barca, scored 4 goals and provided 9 assists.