Barcelona have all but confirmed that Arsenal target Ousmane Dembele will leave the club this January after a breakdown in contract negotiations.
Dembele signed for Barcelona for a reported fee of £126m in 2017 but ultimately, has failed to live up to the huge expectations on his young shoulders.
The 24-year-old's horrendous injury record has limited his game time, and with his contract at Barcelona running out in 6 months, the Spanish club have told the winger to "leave immediately", with the Director of Football, Mateu Alemany, claiming Dembele does not want to stay at the club.
Speaking to Marca, Alemany said: “It’s clear that Dembele does not want to continue with Barcelona.
"He and his agents have been informed that he should leave immediately because we want players who are committed to our project. Therefore, we hope to transfer him before 31 January."
Dembele has been linked with Arsenal over the last few months due to uncertainty over his contract with Barcelona, and with the Spanish side desperate to sell, the Gunners could sign the Frenchman for a decent price.
So, if Dembele was to make a move to Arsenal this month, what sort of impact could he have on Mikel Arteta's side?
To find out, we simulated the rest of the season with Dembele in the Arsenal squad and this is what happened.
We 'signed' Ousmane Dembele for Arsenal in January 2022
To set up this simulation, we used the Football Manager 2022 editor to arrange for Dembele to join Arsenal in January, using FM22 to run the simulation.
This is how Dembele's in-game profile looks on FM22.
In purely stat terms, Dembele's clearly a supremely talented player, with exceptional technical attributes.
Let's take a look at how Dembele performed throughout the second half of the 2021/22 season after signing for Arsenal in January 2022.
The Frenchman was unable to make a groundbreaking impact at the club on his arrival, with the winger registering four goals and two assists in 14 appearances, all of which were starts.
Out of his 14 appearances, 13 of them came in the Premier League where he managed all of his goal contributions, averaging a rating of 7.11 per game in all competitions, which is impressive.
The 24-year-old completed 20 dribbles in his 14 appearances for the Gunners, averaging 1.4 dribbles per game, less than Bukayo Saka, Emile Smith-Rowe and Martin Odegaard.
What this shows is that although Dembele's general performance levels might well be high, the output he produced may not be worth the astronomical wages that the winger might command.
At the end of the 2021/22 season, Football Manager 2022 put together an overall best Arsenal XI, based on performances, statistics and other metrics.
This is what Arsenal's best XI looked like at the end of the 2021/22 season as predicted by Football Manager 2022:
Full Arsenal best XI (4-2-3-1): Ramsdale; Tomiyasu, White, Gabriel, Tierney; Odegaard, Partey; Dembele, Smith Rowe, Saka; Lacazette.
Dembele features in the best Arsenal XI for the 2021/22 season, despite only joining the club in the January transfer window.
Compared to other attackers in the squad, Dembele averaged the fourth-best rating per game, behind Saka, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Out of Arsenal's five best performing attackers, Dembele scored the least amount of goals and registered the second least assists, but apart from Aubameyang, the rest of the players doubled the Frenchman's appearances.
So, how did Arsenal perform in the league after signing Dembele in the January transfer window?
Arsenal final results from the FM22 simulation
Arsenal took full advantage of Chelsea's drop in the table as they continued their strong form to the end of the season, finishing third in the league and earning Champions League football for the following season.
The Gunners ended the season on 79 points, two points ahead of Chelsea in fourth, nine ahead of Manchester United in fifth and 11 points behind Manchester City who won the league.
Overall, Football Manager 2022 predicts that if Ousmane Dembele were to sign for Arsenal in January, despite the Frenchman not having an outstanding impact in the simulation, Arsenal could push their way into third place this season, helping to guide the Gunners to Champions League qualification.
But considering the price tag, wages and his injury record, it could potentially be better for Arsenal to invest in different positions, with Saka, Martinelli, Pepe and Smith-Rowe adequate enough for the Gunners' wide positions.
Would you like to see Ousmane Dembele sign for Arsenal? Let us know in the comments!
