He was the youngster that all of Europe wanted this summer but it's Borussia Dortmund that managed to jump to the top of the queue and complete a deal for French wonderkid Ousmane Dembele.
The 18 year old attacker has been in incredible form for Rennes this season scoring 12 goals in 24 league games. Those kind of performances were never going to go unnoticed and sure enough, Dembele has been linked with almost every single one of Europe's big hitters since the turn of the year.
First he was off to Barcelona, then it appeared that a deal to take him to Bayern was as good as completed. However, in the past week it became clear that Dortmund had pulled out all the stops and, having lost Mats Hummels to Bayern this week, today's confirmation that Dembele is now a Dortmund player is exactly what fans would have wanted to hear.
Borussia Dortmund verpflichtet Toptalent @Dembouz - mehr in Kürze! pic.twitter.com/d60gWX1UOh
— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) May 12, 2016
It's not going to be easy but once again it's certainly positive to see that Dortmund are willing and able to reinvest in the squad to the extent that Bayern can't expect a mere cakewalk to the Bundesliga title next season. Considering the squad the Bavarians are assembling, that may well still come to pass but nonetheless, Dembele's signing can certainly be taken as a statement of intent in a week which saw Hummels move back to Bayern amid much bitterness and discontent at the Westfalenstadion.
Some talk had developed in the past week that Liverpool were ready to engage in a good old fashioned tug of war for the £28 million rated teenager. However, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch to imagine that that was actually just a good old fashioned bit of paper talk planted by the club to increase their bargaining position with regard to their actual first choice attacking target this summer.
The possibility of Jurgen Klopp linking up with Mario Gotze once more is looking increasingly likely and given that Dembele would fill a hole that could be taken up by Gotze at Dortmund, it leaves Liverpool in pole position to move for the World Cup winner.
Despite what their fans may say, Dortmund have made it clear that they'd be interested in a move for their former prodigy. However, with no Gotze shaped discount on the Hummels deal and now with the Dembele deal finalised, Liverpool fans could be forgiven for starting to imagine how Gotze will fit in at Anfield next season.
Get involved in our #Euro2016 facebook group for useful tips, and a shitload of flags https://t.co/PJWL2cJF8k pic.twitter.com/ZSpZB8RLBg
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) May 6, 2016
