Barcelona are at their wits end about the Ousmane Dembele saga. The player has made it clear that he is not interested in signing a new contract with the club unless they increase his wages significantly however, the Catalans are not interested in doing that plus, they will have to maintain the new rules and regulations about the La Liga salary cap. The Player was supposed to be sold in January and Barca’s sporting director publicly asked the player to start looking for a new club. Had the Catalans sold the player in January, they would have been able to reimburse some of the money spent on the player however, now he leaves for free in July.
The 23-year-old has been a very polarizing figure at the club. On one hand, fans do not really like him because he is constantly injured and his finishing is not satisfactory however, Xavi Hernandez has mentioned that he really likes the player and would incorporate him in the team even if he wishes to leave next season. This is a problem for Barca because they do not want to keep him at the club and keep paying him for doing nothing. However, after the whole ordeal with his transfer, they do not want him to wear the Blaugrana shirt again either.
Terminating the contract would be a unilateral decision and could give rise to further legal problems. Barca would have to give a just cause of termination or have to pay the remainder of Dembele’s contract anyway. It could become a whole new ordeal and something that Barca just do not need at the moment. The team has managed to sign a few new players and Xavi is happy with the new signings. Now, it is time to move forward and not dwell on previous mistakes. Dembele will most probably leave in July however, if Xavi can somehow convince him to stay, he could still be on the cards for next season.
Should Barca play Ousmane Dembele or should he never wear the club colors again?