‘Not sure if it’s worth it’: ESPN pundit urges Chelsea to abandon pursuit of 25-year-old

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ESPN pundit Shaka Hislop has advised Chelsea against signing Ousmane Dembele on an “expensive gamble” of a free transfer.

The 25-year-old has officially become a free agent after his contract with Barcelona expired at the end of June.

Having registered 13 assists from just 15 starts (21 appearances) in La Liga last season, there are a lot of clubs reportedly interested in signing Dembele, including Barcelona, who have yet to give up on a potential new deal, and Chelsea.

However, there is a reason the France international’s future remains uncertain.

Neither Barcelona’s extension offer nor Chelsea’s reported four-year deal offer matches Dembele and his agent’s demands.

An earlier report from French outlet L’Equipe claimed that Dembele is looking for a deal worth close to €70million annually or nearly £300,000-a-week.

Hislop argued that Dembele’s impressive form in the second half of the season should not be enough to convince Chelsea to offer such a huge deal.

“If I’m Chelsea, at the numbers [salary] that Dembele’s apparently after, I’m not sure if it’s worth it,” the former West Ham goalkeeper told ESPN FC.

“Dembele’s after an awful lot of money, and while he showed that he can probably worth that in the last six months of last season, that’s all we’ve seen from [him].

“The question then becomes how big a gamble do you want to take? [Would it be] Dembele that we saw in the three and a half years or Dembele in the last six months?

“I just feel that it’s a very expensive gamble for a player that you’re not quite sure how he fits in.

“If I’m Chelsea, I’m a little bit reluctant.”

Following Romelu Lukaku’s return to Inter Milan, Chelsea should have enough room on the wage bill to work with, at least for a year.

Hislop still made a good point, however. Dembele has reached double digits in terms of goals and assists in La Liga just twice since joining Barcelona in 2017.

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