On Thursday, Barca will play Athletic Bilbao away in the Copa del Rey quarter-finals. Surprisingly, Dembele was not called into the tournament squad, with Barca sporting director Alemani saying "he has to leave as soon as possible".
Asked why Dembele was abandoned, Alemani said. "In July, we started a conversation with Dembele and his agent. During this almost 7 months, we had a constant conversation and Barca made different offers to try to find ways for the players to continue to work with us, but these offers were rejected by his agent. ”
"Today is January 20th, 11 days before the end of his contract. Obviously, we believe that he does not want to stay at Barca and will not be the future of Barca. In this case, we have informed him and his agent that he must leave immediately. We want to keep the player who remains loyal to the club and we want him to leave by January 31. ”
"We don't want players who don't want to stay at Barca to play for us, so they're not called in, it's just the result of that process. The coach made the decision and got our support. ”
Dembele's contract with Barca is signed until June 2022, and Barca hope to renew his contract with the French winger, while Xavi also wants him to stay in the team. According to the World Sports newspaper, Dembele wants to receive an annual salary of 30 million euros, a renewal bonus of 30 million euros and a commission of 15 million euros.
Barca even set a deadline for Dembele to renew his contract, but its agent Moussa Sissoko opted for cold treatment. Considering Dembele's performance and Barca's reality, Barca obviously could not meet Dembele's requirements and therefore could only sell Dembele in the winter window.
"World Sports" revealed that if Dembele refuses to renew his contract and leaves in the winter window, then in the next six months, Dembele will be hidden by the club. Moussa Sissoko said: "They could have negotiated with them, but it was wrong to threaten not to let him play again, and Barca was doomed to failure." ”
In 2017, Barca signed Dembele from Borussia Dortmund for 105 million euros. However, in the five seasons he played for Barca, Dembele has scored only 31 goals, 1 goal in 11 appearances this season, and only 1 goal in 9 appearances in the 2019-20 season, which is regarded as a parallel cargo by the media and fans.
It is worth mentioning that in the two transfers in his career, Dembele, Rennes and Dortmund were not happy, and twice chose to strike.
On Wednesday, Harvey had already said in a pre-match press conference that "Dembele should think about the club and if he doesn't renew his contract, then it will find a way out for him." It's unpleasant for anyone, but here, the club's interests are paramount. ”
The Daily Sport revealed that Barca hope to find a buyer for Dembele within 11 days. If a club is not found in the winter window willing to pay the transfer fee, then Barca will even consider letting Dembele leave the team freely.
However, Dembele hopes to wait until the summer window to leave the team so that he can leave the team freely and thus receive a higher annual salary at the new club. Currently, Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool, Tottenham, Newcastle and Paris all want to sign Dembele.