Arsenal: 3 Barcelona loan players Gunners should consider

1. Ousmane Dembele

Should Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang depart in the summer as is highly plausible, Arsenal will likely be in the market for a goalscoring left-winger, a pacy and skilful player who starts out wide, can dribble past defenders at ease, create chances with crosses into the box and through passes between defenders, and score goals.

In Ousmane Dembele, Barcelona might offer the most boom-or-bust wide prospect in world football. It was only three years ago that was signed at 20 for more than £100 million and arriving at the Nou Camp as the replacement for Neymar. Several horrendous injuries later and he is on the verge of a solemn exit.

Arsenal cannot and should not afford his extortionate wages and a transfer fee that would break Nicolas Pepe’s transfer record, but if Barcelona are willing to agree to a loan deal with an option to buy in 2021, that is a deal that Gunners should absolutely pursue. Dembele is still only 22, in an injury-hit campaign last year provided 14 goals and nine assists in 2,503 minutes and when he was last fully fit at Dortmund, scored six goals and added 13 assists in just 2,040 Bundesliga minutes.

Dembele is still an elite talent. He just needs to get and stay fit. If the price is a season-long loan, the potential reward is undoubtedly worth the risk.