Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele has dared to utter Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s name out loud, which means the 20-year-old is signing for Arsenal… apparently.

Dembele has been linked with Arsenal ever since his former Dortmund teammate Aubameyang moved to north London.

The 20-year-old forced a move to Barcelona last summer, costing the La Liga giants €105m, plus €40m in add-ons, yet somehow the media are trying to fool us into thinking Arsenal will sign him a year later.

The Daily Star even claim that the Frenchman was dropping a hint that he would sign for Arsenal when he spoke about Aubameyang recently.

“Honestly, I had a beautiful relationship with Auba,” said Dembele.

“Too bad it only lasted a year.

“For me, a guy coming from Evreux, meeting Aubameyang meant a lot.

“I was pretty good with him. It’s easy to play with a guy like that, he goes fast, he is always well placed.”

The former Dortmund man is just showing appreciation for his teammate, not saying that he wants to leave one of the best clubs in the world after only a year to play with him.

Here’s why Dembele – at least this Dembele – will not sign for Arsenal in the summer.

All the forwards

Dembele is a forward. He mainly plays on the left wing but can also play on the right, and has done since his move to Barcelona and return from injury. He can also play in the centre.

Arsenal already have enough forwards. They have Mesut Ozil, who’s on around £300k-per-week in wages, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and Alexandre Lacazette if Arsene Wenger decides to play the Frenchman with Aubameyang.

While Wenger could probably argue that you can never have too many forwards, especially with Alex Iwobi and Danny Welbeck failing to really perform this season, it’s difficult to predict where Dembele would fit into Arsenal’s starting line-up.

Either way, a big player on big wages is going to end up sitting on the bench when there’s absolutely no reason for Arsenal to be overstocked in that area. They need defenders, a new goalkeeper and at least one more defensive midfielder.

Dembele talks about his connection with Aubameyang but Miki has that too, as they also used to play at Dortmund together, and they’ve clearly rediscovered that. There’s no need to force it and spend a massive amount of cash on a relatively unproven 20-year-old just because he played with Aub at Dortmund.

“We understand each other on and off the pitch, that’s why it’s easier on the pitch,” Aubameyang said about Miki last month. “[The fans] have to be happy [to see us together], we will do our best of course, like we did in the past.

“We know each other on and off the pitch.”

Money money money

Barcelona paid £92.6m for Dembele last summer. And while the 20-year-old has only made 12 appearances for them since the move due to injury, there’s no way the Catalans are going to sell the forward so soon after signing him. Especially not to Arsenal, who wouldn’t let them sign Hector Bellerin last year.

Although Arsenal were willing to spend a similar amount of Monaco’s Thomas Lemar in August 2017, he was Alexis Sanchez’s replacement. Now, Arsenal have already replaced the Chilean with Miki, and added Aub. Why would they need to spend huge amounts on another forward? As mentioned above, there’s no reason that would warrant such a frivolous expenditure.

Dembele’s release clause is said to be £368m, which means that, unless Barca really, really want to sell him, no other team are getting near.

What’s more, he may not be getting the game time he wants right now, but that doesn’t mean he immediately wants to leave Barcelona for Arsenal. He may only be 20 but surely he’s not that impulsive?

On top of Dembele’s release clause, his wages are also massive.

https://twitter.com/FootyAccums/status/903603230655090688

The youngster is reportedly earning around £220,472 a week. There’s no way Arsenal would pay that for such a young player and, if they did, that would really set the cat among the pigeons… Talk about obliterating our pay structure.

Other areas should take priority

As I previously mentioned, running around Europe trying to sign the most expensive forwards this summer might be Wenger’s idea of a great holiday but Arsenal need other players far more urgently.

Petr Cech is past his best and David Ospina isn’t good enough. Both of their contracts run out at the end of next season, so a new goalkeeper has to be high on Arsenal’s list this summer.

Laurent Koscielny’s Achilles seems one kick away from retirement, the club never replaced Gabriel and Arsenal’s defence in general is inconsistent and leaky. Centre-backs are needed.

After that, a defensive or central midfielder would be great considering Santi Cazorla doesn’t look like he’ll ever return to football, Francis Coquelin signed for Valencia in January and Jack Wilshere could also be off in a few months.