Ousmane Dembele up for sale: 'We hope a transfer will take place’ - Barcelona director after contract talks fail
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Updated 20/01/2022 at 10:43 GMT
Ousmane Dembele has struggled for form and fitness at Barcelona since his move from Borussia Dortmund, but his importance has grown in Catalonia as players have left the club and his contract approaches expiry. The Spanish club said that they now hope to sell the player in the January transfer window.
Ousmane Dembele during the FC Barcelona training session previous at Copa del Rey match between Atletico de Bilbao at Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper on January 19, 2022 in Barcelona
Image credit: Getty Images
Barcelona’s director of football Mateu Alemany expect Ousmane Dembele to leave the club after rejecting a number of contract offers.
The 24-year-old French international is out of contract in the summer and has been linked with moves away to various clubs for the past two years after an inconsistent and injury-hit spell in Catalonia since he left Borussia Dortmund.
However, Barcelona are keen to keep the player, not least because their financial situation means they could not easily replace the player while rebuilding other parts of their squad under new manager Xavi Hernandez.
According to AFP, Alemany explained the situation, saying: "We've talked and talked, made various offers. We've tried to find a way but these offers have been systematically rejected by his agents... it seems obvious he does not want to continue at Barca and is not committed to Barca's future project."
"In this scenario he and his agents have been informed that he must leave immediately because we want players committed to this project and therefore we hope a transfer will take place before Jan 31.
"On the football side the result is we do not want to have players who are not committed to Barca. The club is obviously not the one that should decide this, it's the coach, and he has. But he has all our support. It seems to us absolutely the correct approach."
Dembele had been linked with a swap deal for Manchester United’s Anthony Martial.
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