Barcelona has been fighting tooth and nail to get striker Ousmane Dembele to sign a new deal at Camp Nou before he becomes a free agent this summer. After all, they paid a whopping €150 million for him in 2017 from Borussia Dortmund, yet the Frenchman has barely played in four seasons due to injuries, making just 87 appearances in LaLiga. With Dembele clearly not interested in renewing his contract with Barca, they've now decided to sell him this month.
Following the news, Dembele clapped back at Barcelona on social media with this post:
Ousmane Dembélé: “For four years people have spoken for me, shamefully lied with a single purpose, the intention of harming me. I have been following my line of never answering for four years. Has it been a mistake? Surely. It’s over”. 🔴🇫🇷 #Dembele
Full Dembouz statement ⤵️📑 pic.twitter.com/VsXOVVj1fb
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 20, 2022
The 24-year-old is evidently not committed to playing for the club anymore and with that being said, the Catalans simply want to offload him by the end of the month in order to actually get some value in return. After all, if he does depart in June for free, it would be an absolute bummer for Barcelona, who paid a fortune for the frontman.
Xavi even dropped Dembele from the club's Copa del Rey squad on Thursday because of this ongoing saga. He's only featured in 10 matches this term as well. While Barca does want to get rid of him, they did face backlash on Thursday from the Professional Footballer's Association, who said the treatment of Dembele is downright illegal.
“A club is obliged to pay a player the agreed wages and allow the provision of services under the same conditions as the rest of his teammates, without there being any type of discrimination or pressure for the athlete to waive their working rights,” the AFE said in a statement. “The renewal of a contract requires the agreement of both parties.
Basically, Barcelona wants Ousmane Dembele to put pen to paper on an extension that would see his wages decrease. But, the player doesn't seem the least bit interested. As the France international said though, it's in his agent's hands at this point.
It will be interesting to see how this situation unfolds. There will be no shortage of potential suitors for him anyway, with Newcastle already keen on the youngster.
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