According to reports from London Evening Standard, Napoli are the latest club to show an interest in Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur strike target Moussa Dembele.
Much hype surrounded the France U20 when he joined the Fulham ranks from PSG’s academy in 2012 and he’s starting to deliver in his heralded ability, netting seven times in his last eight Championship appearances – including back-to-back braces against Reading and Bristol City in October.
With his Craven Cottage contract set to expire at the end of the season, a number of Premier League clubs have taken an interest in the 19-year-old over the last few months – most particularly Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United – eyeing the chance to sign a prodigious striker on the cheap.
Want More? Spurs News | Man United News
But according to London Evening Standard, Dembele’s contract situation is attracting suitors from outside English football as well, with Napoli the latest club to scout the 6 foot frontman. Their interest – along with Feyenoord and Borussia Dortmund’s – could prove problematic for United and Spurs.
Foreign clubs will be allowed to discuss pre-contract terms with Dembele from January onwards and would only have to pay a nominal compensation fee as it would count as an international transfer under FIFA regulations.
Spurs and United, on the other hand, would have to wait until the summer to legally offer the teenager a contract and the issue of compensation would likely be decided by a tribunal – who could command any sum deemed justifiable in the context of the modern market.
There is a four-and-a-half-year deal already on offer at Fulham, but LES claim it is becoming ‘increasingly unlikely’ that Dembele will sign it.