Saga: How Ousmane Dembele failed to achieve his dream at Barcelona
What has Barcelona said about the situation?
The club tried its best to negotiate a contract with the player since Xavi and Laporta both wanted to keep the player. Xavi in fact still admits that Dembele is a very important player in the team however, he cannot force the player to sign a contract he is not happy with. The manager has also said that the player should leave the club in January if he has no intentions of staying on at the club.
Sporting Director, Mateu Alemany, has been more upfront and in an interview with BarcaTV, he said,
"“We understand that Dembele does not want to continue with Barcelona, and our final stance has been communicated to him. We want committed players, and we have told him that has to leave the club as soon as possible,”"
The director also confirmed that Dembele has been told to leave before the 31st of January since the transfer market closes on that day. If Barca are unable to sell him by that time, they would lose out on a lot of money and that too for a player who did not do much in his four-year stay at the club.
What has Ousmane Dembele said about the situation?
The player in a recent Instagram post clarified his position on the situation. He said that he was tired of people speaking for him, twisting the facts and ruining his name. He says that he is a man that does not cheat and thus he wants to fulfill his contract with the club. He went on to say that while he is under his contract, he is ready to give everything to Barca and he will play whenever and wherever necessary. He proved this statement by saying that he did not complain when Xavi trusted him into the team right after an injury with no prior training.
Ousmane Dembélé: “For four years people have spoken for me, shamefully lied with a single purpose, the intention of harming me. I have been following my line of never answering for four years. Has it been a mistake? Surely. It’s over”. 🔴🇫🇷 #Dembele
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 20, 2022
Full Dembouz statement ⤵️📑 pic.twitter.com/VsXOVVj1fb
However, when it comes to the financial problems and contract situation, he refused to write much. He said that negotiations are not his forte and his work is only on the pitch. He put the weight of the contract negotiations on his agent and said that the paperwork was basically his work. This is a bit hypocritical since he says that he does not want others to speak for him yet he is not speaking out about his demands or the situation he has created. The post was very passive-aggressive and it seems like he is done with the club for good.