Arsenal: Why would Ousmane Dembele want to come?

Ousmane Dembele is being increasingly linked with a move to Arsenal. As I think about the possibility, there is one question that I cannot answer: Why would he want to come to the Emirates?

I wrote previously that the Ousmane Dembele rumours would constitute the summer saga that will run and run throughout the coming weeks and months. It seems to me that that is now coming to fruition, with Arsenal again strongly linked with a move for a player that seems beyond their pay grade, literally and figuratively.

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This time, however, the reports are focusing on Unai Emery, suggesting that it is the new manager who is pushing for Dembele, keen to make him the marquee signing of his first summer in north London. That’s fair enough considering he, I am sure, will be keen to make a strong early impression.

Barcelona are happy to allow Dembele for the right price, or loan agreements, after a frustrating first season marred by injury; Arsenal are somewhat interested, though questions of budget must be answered; the motivation behind any deal rests on Antoine Griezmann, who is reportedly on his way to the Catalan club if funds can be raised and room made by the Dembele departure.

Such logic makes a transfer quite possible. Certainly, all the steps are in place for this to rumble on throughout the summer. But there is one issue that I cannot quite resolve in my mind, that is the motivations of Dembele himself. Firstly, why would he want to leave Barcelona at all? And secondly, even if he did want to leave Barcelona, why would, of all the possible teams that he could choose, and he certainly would be able to choose given his talent, would he pick Arsenal?

I can only really think of one possible answer, even then it is a somewhat tenuous one. There is no way that Dembele is coming to the Emirates for a higher pay packet, for a more competitive team, for a step-up in quality and competition, and all without the allure of the Champions League.

There is some logic in Dembele believing that Emery is the manager who can develop his game the most. Neymar has always raved about his former manager as PSG, for instance, a player similar in style and stature to Dembele. Perhaps the Frenchman sees that relationship, even if it was a fractious one between Neymar and his teammates, and hopes for a similar occurrence in north London.The only reason I can think of is a long-term one: the development of his career, under the tutelage of Emery and former Borussia Dortmund Chief Scout Sven Mislintat who brought him into the limelight in the first place, which is currently being stented by a lack of opportunity and perhaps also investment in a high-performing Barca team that revolves around Lionel Messi and now, potentially, Griezmann.

That is the only reason I can think why Dembele would join, especially over the other options that I am sure he is receiving, the most prominent of which at this point is Liverpool. And even then, I am not sure it is enough to believe that this rumour has any legs.