“I asked Dembélé why he was going to Paris and he couldn't tell me. I'm disappointed". Word of Xavi Hernández, the great supporter of Ousmane Dembélé, who yesterday no longer wore the Barcelona shirt in the last game of the American tour against Milan. The coach left him out of the call. “I saw him so happy that he did not expect it. But this continues, and if he doesn't want to be at Barça, you have to let him go, ”said the coach.
Dembélé's divorce has a lot of crumb. When Mateu Alemany, soccer director, traveled to Eivissa in May 2021 to discuss his continuity with his agent, Moussa Sissoko, for the first time, the first tensions began to be felt. At that time, Dembélé had one year left on his contract. And Barça, just as they did with Pedri, Gavi, Araújo or Ansu Fati, got their batteries to renew a talented player who had played a trick on him due to injuries. “It was not amortized. He was a player for whom 150 million euros had been paid between fixed and variable concepts ”, sources from the Barcelona club reported in Las Vegas, reviewing the serial chronologically.
In that Ibizan meeting, Sissoko asked for two types of approach for his footballer: sports and economic. The first one was solved by Xavi. Under the umbrella of "we are a family", he managed to finally make the Frenchman feel at home in his fifth season. He progressed technically thanks to his video sessions and improved his nutrition and rest patterns. He also went from being late for training to going to the sports city on his days off.
But it remained to overcome the economic obstacle. Barça presented him with a five-year renewal offer that had no response for months and was later rejected. It was in January 2022 when Alemany got fed up with Dembélé and said the following: “We have been in talks since June. He's not engaged. We expect a transfer before January 31.” In a club decision, Dembélé was in the stands for two games. Without him, Barça lost against Athletic Club in the round of 16 of the Copa del Rey. He was not in Mendizorrotza either in the League against Alavés. The end of the January market arrived and Sissoko did not present any transfer offer. Xavi forced to recover him. "As he did not leave and he had a contract, we agreed to let him play," add the same sources.
In April 2022, three months after the end of his contract, Dembélé did not have any offer that was attractive to him. However, the club already knew that he had the interest of PSG on the table. The proposal ultimately did not come to fruition. Driven by Xavi, Alemany traveled to Morocco to meet with Sissoko and his partner. They agreed that Barça would make an effort and the player would try to be more flexible in his demands. "Due to a matter of the financial balance of the club, but also of its market value, we could not raise more than what we already did," insist sources from the sports leadership.
Finally, on July 14, 2022, Dembélé signed. "Now yes. Força Barça ”, he said in the video that the club broadcast. The agreement was sealed with a salary that, although it was not what his agents were asking for, it did exceed the previous one. In fact, he is the third footballer with the highest salary on the team. So, as the clubs agreed last June with LaLiga and only for this transfer market, Barça can use 60% of what is saved in Dembéle's salary to sign, since it means more 5% of the cost of the sports squad.
Aware that the serial could be repeated, Barcelona presented him in June with a renewal proposal for four more seasons, until 2027, and economic conditions higher than those he perceives now. It was not enough. According to the club, Sissoko responded to the entity with a counterproposal in which he demanded to enter between six and seven million euros more between fixed and variable concepts.
Within the negotiation of the renewal contract, Barcelona agreed to include the mandatory transfer clause. If the player notified before July 31 that he had a proposal, he could leave by entering 25 million of the 50 that Barça will receive. “I knew the clause, yes. And we had a stage in case it happened”, explained Xavi. However, at Barça they have doubts in the legal field that they are consulting with their lawyers. They consider that the open negotiations between Dembélé and PSG do not conform to the wording of the same and will do everything possible to enter 50 million.
In Las Vegas, Ansu Fati dedicated the winning goal against Milan with a hug. “In the end, when you love a person, it feels a bit bad for you to decide another option. Here we have given everything to them”, said Sergi Roberto. “There were no indications. It was very important to us and we hoped it would stay”, added Marcos Alonso. And then? Xavi is already looking to the future. "We have to strengthen ourselves." Afterwards, the team took the flight back home with Dembélé. For the last time.
