Barcelona are reportedly opening talks with the former Borussia Dortmund star, who left for China in a £135 million move. There is some uncertainty over whether he will be able to play again before the end of his contract and if that’s true, how Barcelona may deal with it.
Barcelona has reopened contract talks with Ousmane Dembele. Dembele’s contract will expire in 2020, and the club is looking to extend it until 2024.
Barcelona has restarted contract discussions with Ousmane Dembele, with sources telling ESPN that sports director Mateu Alemany would meet with the forward’s agent, Moussa Sissoko, this week in Morocco.
Alemany came in Marrakech on Monday and will stay until Tuesday to discuss a possible new contract for Dembele, whose current contract expires at the end of June.
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Alemany intimated on Sunday that Barca have softened their attitude on Dembele, whom they had instructed to find a new club just a few months ago.
“He can continue for us as long as [any deal] stays within the club’s sustainable pay cap and is proportional to his colleagues,” Alemany stated before of Barcelona’s 1-0 victory against Sevilla, which lifted them to second place in LaLiga.
It’s a dramatic reversal from three months ago, when Dembele was left out of Barcelona’s squad for back-to-back matches and told he needed to find a new club before the January transfer window closed.
At the time, president Joan Laporta hinted that he thought Dembele had signed a pre-contract deal with another club, citing Paris Saint-Germain and a slew of English teams as examples.
Sources close to the player, on the other hand, have long maintained that this is not the case, even claiming that Dembele’s first objective has always been to stay at Camp Nou.
Getty Images/Fran Santiago
Xavi Hernandez, the coach of Barcelona, has played a vital part in the shifting conditions. Despite some voices within the club wanting to leave Dembele in the stands while his contract expires, he reintroduced him to the team in January.
Dembele has reacted on the field, scoring one goal and assisting eight times in his past ten games for Barcelona in all competitions. As a result, he is no longer booed by his own fans, as was the case when he initially returned to the team in February owing to a contract impasse.
According to sources, Xavi has been pleased with Dembele’s work ethic, despite past claims of a lack of professionalism, and has been lobbying the club to extend his contract.
When talks broke down in January, there was a significant disparity between what the club was providing and what the players’ camp was demanding. Barca is hoping that this week’s summit would help them bridge the gap.
Meanwhile, as ESPN first reported last month, Barca will speak with defender Ronald Araujo’s camp in the coming days.
Araujo’s contract expires in 2023, and sources tell ESPN that he has better offers from Premier League clubs Manchester United and Liverpool, but he claims he want to stay at Barca.
“We’re working on [a new contract],” the Uruguayan informed reporters after the Sevilla match. “There are [additional] meetings this week, and I’m hoping for a quick resolution since I want to remain at this club for a long time.”
Barcelona have reopened contract talks with Ousmane Dembélé, in order to make him the club’s highest-paid player. Reference: ousmane dembélé stats.
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