Excluded from the call against Athletic, the Barça club requires the French forward to renew or find a club to leave immediately
Except for a sudden turn of events, which in this Barça is never ruled out, Ousmane Dembélé will not play with the Barça club again. The threat of coach Xavi Hernández in the press conference prior to the Cup match against Athletic has become a fact when the Catalan club announced this Thursday the call for the players who traveled to Bilbao. In the list of 22 summoned the ‘7 of the French player did not appear, a controversy that takes place just when the winter market faces its final stretch and the French winger, who ends his contract next June, does not agree to sign a downward renewal. If he doesn’t, both the Catalan coach and the director of football, Mateu Alemany, urge him to find another team in this winter market.
“We have been in talks with their agents since June. We have talked and we have sent them several offers for the player to continue with us that have been systematically rejected, ”explained the Barça executive in the club’s official media, very upset. “It seems obvious that the player does not want to continue at Barcelona and that, therefore, he is not committed to our future project. Given this scenario, he and his agents have been informed that they must leave immediately. We expect a transfer before January 31,” Alemany continued before acknowledging that this decision “has sporting consequences that the coach must determine.”
Barça feels cheated by the player, still 24 years old and one of the most unbalanced in his current squad when he is healthy and mentally focused. They do not understand that while in training he told Xavi that his intention was to continue dressing as a Blaugrana, in the offices his representatives closed in band and demanded a considerable increase in file in the midst of the crisis of the entity and after Dembélé has not been as decisive as expected when Barça paid Borussia Dortmund 105 million plus variables for him in 2017. He landed to take the place of Neymar, transferred to PSG, and in these four and a half years the Frenchman has left many injuries, fantastic flashes and some very discreet numbers: 31 goals in 129 games.
At this point, Dembélé has not remained silent and has decided to respond harshly to Barça, whom he accuses of blackmail. “From today I am going to answer honestly, without giving in to any kind of blackmail. I forbid anyone to give the impression that I am not involved in the project. I am fully involved and available to my club and my coach… Surely love is a variant of blackmail, “he snapped.
limit situation
The borderline situation between Dembélé and Barcelona has even reached the Association of Spanish Footballers (AFE), a union that has warned the Catalan club of the risk of retaliating against the player for not renewing. “It is true that a professional soccer player does not have the right to be lined up, not even called up for every game, but if this circumstance could be understood as pressure to bend his will, and public statements are also made recognizing this type of pressure, we would be facing an illegal action by the company, ”warns the body chaired by David Aganzo.
In an extensive statement, the AFE points out the contractual obligations that Barcelona has with its player and reminds him that “the renewal of a contract requires the agreement of the will of both parties, without there being external conditions that limit or restrict the freedom of hiring of the footballer». “The non-alignment of a soccer player for a period of time without any injury, illness or physical impediment, supposes a devaluation of his image and his sports cache that will negatively affect his future hiring”, they add in the text, where the union “available to any player who may see their labor rights violated as a worker.”
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