Barcelona are considering selling Ousmane Dembele to raise funds for a move for Paul Pogba, and Arsenal are very interested if the opportunity presents itself, according to reports.

The Daily Mail report that Barcelona want to sign Pogba this summer, but they can only afford to do so if they sell first. They aren’t in a financially strong enough position to pay the amount United would ask for, but could be if they sold Dembele first.

According to the Mail, Unai Emery would “love” to bring Dembele to the club, and Arsenal could make an offer to loan Dembele for the time being, with a “compulsory buy option” to be activated later.

They presumably mean an “obligation to buy”, because “compulsory option” is a bit of an oxymoron. If it was just a normal buy option, Arsenal could pull out, and Barcelona wouldn’t be guaranteed the funds, so that wouldn’t help them in their pursuit of Pogba. It therefore has to be compulsory, but that makes it an obligation, not an option.

Personally, I can’t see this deal happening in the next two days. With all the details involved in a double transfer between three different clubs for two of the most valuable players in football, you’d need weeks to get it all right. Barcelona have weeks to spare to buy Pogba, but Arsenal only have until Thursday’s deadline to buy Dembele.

Plus, Manchester United only have until Thursday to replace Pogba, so they’ll be very reluctant to sell. Particularly if they’re going to benefit on of their Premier League rivals by doing so. I wouldn’t get excited about this one.