On Thursday May 5 transfermarkt.de reported that Borussia Dortmund were scouting Shakhtar Donetsk’s 27-year-old Brazilian winger Marlos. According to the report Borussia Dortmund are willing to pay €15 million for Marlos, who is seen as an alternative in case Dortmund fails with their bid to land Stade Rennes Ousmane Dembélé.
According to various reports Dembélé’s transfer to Dortmund seemed to be a done deal, but then on Thursday morning FootMercato reported that Stade had rejected Borussia Dortmund’s offer of €15 million for Dembélé, and are instead asking for €35 million, which has led to suggestions that the French right winger’s transfer to Germany could collapse at the last minute.
Shortly after the Dembélé story emerged transfermart.de issued the above stated report, with the Ukrainian news source hronika.info noted as the original source. Hronika writes that Dortmund, which signed Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Shakhtar Donetsk in the summer of 2013, are going to scout Marlos during the second leg Europa League semi-final between Shakhtar and Sevilla.
The problem with the report, however, is that hronika.info is not the original source but rather it is footballtransfer.com.ua, and as Futbolgrad has learned there is nothing to the story. Indeed Footballtransfer.com.ua is considered an extremely unreliable source when it comes to transfers involving Ukrainian clubs.
The timing of the story coincided perfectly with reports that Borussia had failed with their bid to land Dembélé. But Shakhtar are very unlikely to sell Marlos any time soon, as they are already expected to lose the 28-year-old Brazilian winger Taison, who has told the media that he is looking for a new challenge next season.
Furthermore Borussia Dortmund is understood to have the Dembélé transfer all but wrapped up, as the two clubs have negotiated a deal through their common equipment sponsor Puma. Dembélé meanwhile has made his intentions clear by liking a Twitter post showing him wearing a Borussia Dortmund shirt.
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