The director of football of Barcelona, Mateu Alemany, affirmed this Thursday that Ousmane
Dembele “He must leave immediately” after not accepting the renewal offers offered by the club and the player replied that he is not “used to giving in to blackmail”.
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“It seems obvious to us that the player does not want to continue at Barcelona and is not committed to Barça’s future project, in this scenario he and his agents have been told that he must leave immediately,” Mateu Alemany told the media. of the Barça club.
The Barça football director recalled that, since July, “we have spoken, we have dialogued, Barça has made different offers, they have tried to find a way for the player to continue with us”.
“These offers have been systematically rejected by his agents,” said Alemany, who deduces from these rejections that the player does not want to continue at Barça. “We want players committed to this project and therefore we hope that a transfer will take place before January 31” when the market closes, Alemany said.
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Out of the Cup match
The player was not summoned “by technical decision” with the Barça club to play the round of 16 match of the Copa del Rey this Thursday in Bilbao.
“We do not want to have players who are not committed to the project and who do not want to be at Barça and therefore the fact that they are not called up is nothing more than a consequence of this whole process,” explained Alemany.
For the Barça manager, the decision to leave Dembélé in Barcelona is the power of coach Xavi Hernández, but “he has all our support, our support and we understand it perfectly, it seems to us an absolutely coherent attitude”, added the Barça manager.
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Hours after Alemany’s words, Dembélé reacted with a statement on Instagram. “I am not a man who cheats and even less a man who has a habit of giving in to blackmail,” he said in his text.
Dembélé also ensures that he remains “fully involved and at the disposal of the club and the coach.” Xavi had already shown some weariness with the Dembélé case on Wednesday at the press conference prior to the match against Athletic Bilbao.
“It has been impossible to give him more confidence, he has played every possible minute since I’ve been a coach,” said Xavi, who since his arrival on the Barça bench has always opted for the French winger. But as a club man, the Barça coach also stated that “we have reached a point where we have to decide. The player should also think a bit about the team, about the club”.
High economic claims
According to the Spanish press, Dembélé and his agent would have put on the table exorbitant financial claims for a team that is still under financial stress. The player’s agent would have demanded “200 million euros for a five-year contract, plus a 40 million renewal premium (20 for Dembélé and 20 for the manager),” according to the Catalan newspaper Sport.
(Also read: Newcastle raised the offer and Duván Zapata is closer to England)
Arrived in 2017 at Barcelona for 135 million euros (153 million dollars) from Borussia Dortmund, Dembélé’s journey at Barça has been hampered by injuries.
In four and a half seasons at Barça, Dembélé has played 129 games in which he has scored 31 goals and given 23 assists. Faced with the possibility that the player could leave for free in June, Barça seems to want to try to recover at least part of what was paid for him and release salary bills for other possible signings.
The player still has several months ahead where he could risk ending up in the stands if he does not come out in this market.
The Spanish players’ union AFE recalled this Thursday the renewal must be the result of a mutual agreement “freely issued without there being external conditions that limit or restrict the professional footballer’s freedom of contracting.”
AFP
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