Manchester United are reportedly lining up a £43m bid for Lyon forward Moussa Dembele following the news that top scorer Marcus Rashford could be missing for up to three months.
United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer broke the bad news ahead of his side's 2-0 loss to Liverpool on Sunday, saying: "Marcus is going to be out for a while. He suffered a stress fracture against Wolverhampton (Wanderers).
"I don't know how long he'll be out for, but it's normally six weeks before you can get going again and then he'll need time to be match fit again."
As a result of the injury United are searching for goalscoring options, and according to FootMercato they have identified Dembele as one of their main targets.
They claim that United scouts have been watching the player in action in recent weeks, and that they were most recently at Lyon's 4-3 win against Nantes to see Dembele score the fourth.
It is thought United will open the bidding at £43m, but Lyon may well demand more money for their star man.
Dembele began his career at Fulham before moving on to Celtic, where he scored 51 times in 94 games for the Hoops.
His form in Scotland earned him a move back to his native France in 2018, and he has been prolific for Lyon ever since, especially in recent weeks, with the 23-year-old scoring five times and creating one assist in his last four games.
Dembele has also been linked with a move to the likes of Chelsea and Tottenham , and a bidding war could erupt for the player before the close of the transfer window on January 31.
As a result of Rashford's injury United have been left with only 18-year-old Mason Greenwood and Anthony Martial as their available forwards, with the latter ineffective during their loss to Liverpool.
