Paris Saint-Germain look to have agreed a deal to sign Ousmane Dembele from Barcelona. The fee will be €50m, despite his release clause increasing to €100m on the 1st of August.
According to Relevo, Dembele had agreed previously with Barcelona that he could leave for that amount without necessarily activating his release clause. The upshot is that the fee is set at €50m, but it looks as if Barcelona will take all of the €50m from the operation, whereas €25m of the clause was due to Dembele and his agent Moussa Sissoko if it had been activated.
🚨 The €50m for Dembélé will go entirely to Barça. @AndiOnrubia 🇫🇷
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) August 1, 2023
This checks out with an earlier report that Barcelona were obligated to accept that amount in an accord reached witht eh Frenchman. However PSG will not be required to pay the full amount up front as they have had to if the sale was conducted via the release clause, hence the benefit for them of doing it this way. It is thought that Dembele has pushed to ensure that Barcelona get more money out of the deal. He is already thought to have agreed a deal with PSG for a five-year contract.
Now Barcelona must re-assess their transfer targets for the remianing month of the transfer window, where they have unexpectedly lost a key player, but now do have a little more breathing room in terms of their finances. Dembele’s loss will be a major blow to Xavi and his plans, but the likelihood is that Barcelona cannot afford to bring in another player of the same quality in that position.
