Ousmane Dembele’s six-year stay at Barcelona is expected to come to an end this summer, with Paris Saint-Germain set to complete the signing of the 26-year-old by the end of this week.
Dembele has looked all-but certain to remain at the club for the upcoming season, but the entire dynamic changed at the weekend, which The Athletic has gone into great detail on.
Barcelona received a formal letter from PSG on Saturday, which stated their intention to activate Dembele’s €50m release clause, which had been reduced from €100m for the months of June and July.
However, it was not actually a release clause that PSG, but what is known as a “contract of transfer obligation”, which Barcelona agreed upon last summer when extended the French international’s contract in order to allow them to save money during negotiations.
This also stipulated that Barcelona had to pay Dembele and his agent half of this fee (€25m), although the club’s legal workers are currently studying whether he is eligible for this, as they believe that certain criterium had to be met in order for this to happen. The matter could end up in court, should it be taken that way by either Barcelona or Dembele/Moussa Sissoko (his agent).
Several club sources opened up on the situation, which appeared to show much confusion over the matter. Barcelona reportedly tried to reject PSG’s offer, before it became apparent that they were powerless to do so.
PSG offered Dembele a lucrative contract on Sunday, which his agent Sissoko then used to try and get Barcelona to offer him a new deal, must higher than the original terms that had been discussed during previous negotiations. The club refused on the basis of financial reasons.
Dembele has ultimately decided to join PSG, and he has until Friday to accept their offer, which he is expected to do so. According to the report, one of the reasons that made Dembele listen to PSG was learning that Barcelona had explored the option of sending him and Gavi to the French champions on loan as part of a deal to sign Kylian Mbappe, who looks set to leave himself this summer. However, Barcelona sources had denied earlier that week that they had no intention of doing this.
All of this means that Dembele is very close to leaving Barcelona. A deal is expected to be finalised in the next few days, but there are still odds and ends to be tied up, namely the split that Dembele and his agent will receive.
The situation has certainly left a very bad taste in the mouth of Barcelona players, officials and supporters, who had hoped to see Dembele in Xavi Hernandez’s squad for the new season. However, that will no longer be the case.
