January 20, (THEWILL) – Ousmane Dembele has been placed on the transfer market by Barcelona and will be sold soon.
Club Sporting Director Mateu Alemany Font was clear on this while also explaining why club manager Xavi Hernandez opted not to include him in Barcelona’s Copa del Rey match with Athletic Club on Thursday night.
Dembele joined Barcelona from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2017, partly to fill the void left by Neymar’s departure to PSG. However, he has not lived up to the expectations that led to his promotion. Injuries and inconsistency have both hampered his growth at Camp Nou.
Relations between player and club got even more strained in recent months. Dembele’s contract with Barcelona expires at the end of the season, and the Catalan club has been unable to persuade the 24-year-old Frenchman to extend his stay.
As indicated by the club’s sporting director, it appears that Barcelona has finally given up on their erratic forward and is willing to sell him.
Speaking on the club’s issue with the player, Alemany said: “We began conversations with Dembele’s agent in July. Six or seven months have already passed since then in which we have talked and Barcelona have made different offers. We have tried to find a way for the player to stay with us.
“Offers have been made that were systematically rejected by his agents. Now, eleven days before entering the final phase of his contract, the club understands that the player doesn’t want to renew and that he’s not committed to Barcelona’s project.
“He and his agents have been told to leave the club and seek a transfer before January 31st. The sporting situation assessed by our coaches is that we don’t want to have a player who isn’t committed to the project. And not being selected is a consequence of this entire process.
“The sporting consequence of all this, valued by the technicians and by our coach, is that we do not want to have with us players who are not committed to the project and who do not want to be at Barca and therefore the fact that he is not called up is no more than a consequence of this whole process.
“The club obviously is not the one that should determine this, it is the coach who has determined it, but he has our support and we think it is a totally coherent attitude.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
