Ousmane Dembele will leave Barcelona this summer, we just don’t know when.
Last week the French forward confirmed that he wanted to leave the La Liga champions, with PSG reportedly tripling his wages to tempt him to Paris.
As Dembele sent a formal letter of intent to leave Barca before midnight on the 31st of July, he activated a private clause in his contract which allowed him to leave for €50 million.
Within that contract, it was stipulated that as long as certain clauses were met Dembele and his agent would pocket 50% of the transfer fee. It’s that clause that is now causing issues.
Barcelona management is adamant that certain clauses were not met, allowing them to keep a higher proportion of the transfer fee. Moussa Sissoko who represents Dembele persists that the clauses were met.
So far the clauses in question have not been made public, but this dispute has the potential to drag on for the majority of August.
According to a report by MD, Barca can legally keep Dembele until the 21st of August. If no agreement is reached by that date, then the player can move to PSG but the dispute would remain open, and there is a chance that it could find its way to an arbitration hearing.
It’s in the best interests of Barcelona, Dembele and PSG to get this deal done
Nobody wants this saga to drag on any longer than it needs to, but considering the financial position of Barcelona, it’s understandable that they’re going to fight for every single cent.
Barca needs a conclusion to the Dembele transfer to open up funds to make further signings ahead of the La Liga season.
Dembele is already in Paris and while it seems unlikely that Barca would force him to return to training with the first-team squad, they’re well within their rights to do so.
For PSG, their Ligue 1 season starts on the 12th of August at home to Lorient, and they’d prefer to have Dembele available for selection. They also have a game against Toulouse on the 20th, which Dembele would also miss.
You have to also question if he’d be ready for the game against Lens on the 26th considering he hasn’t played any football for nearly a month, with his last appearance coming on Barca’s pre-season tour of the USA on the 29th of July.
The sooner all parties move on the better, but this isn’t going to be an easy negotiation if both parties feel they’re in the right and have the legal backing of the contract.