Italian giants ready to rival Man Utd for €50m striker

Juventus have entered the race for reported Manchester United target Moussa Dembele, it is claimed.

Former Celtic star Dembele was heavily linked with a move to Old Trafford over the summer, with United knowing all along that Romelu Lukaku was likely to be leaving.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer viewed the player as the ideal focal point for his attack, as he fit in with his policy of targeting young and determined players, and was ready for his club to make a bid of up to €50m.

However, the current Lyon hitman turned down talk of a move away, insisting he would be happy to stay at Lyon having only made the move from Scotland one year ago.

Despite this, Dembele is still a target for major European clubs, with L’Equipe claiming that Juventus have identified the Frenchman as their plan B if they cannot sign Mauro Icardi from Inter Milan this summer.

Icardi’s preference is to join Juventus, but Inter do not want to sell to their rivals, so the Serie A champions are starting to consider alternatives. It is claimed that they went to scout Dembele in Lyon’s season opener against Angers on Friday – a game in which he scored twice.

L’Equipe claim that Dembele has been of interest to Juventus since his Fulham days, with the striker representing the London-based club between 2013 and 2016.

Dembele is not the only forward Juventus are targeting, with a report suggesting they are set to enter the race for Neymar with a player-plus-€100m bid. Read the full story here.