Barcelona forward has finally completed his long-anticipated move to PSG for a reported €50.4 million. It’s still unclear how much of that €50.4 million will be coming Barca’s way with the two sides disagreeing over how the fee was to be divided.
Update – According to Helena Condis, Barcelona will receive €35.4 million of the transfer fee, significantly higher than the €25 million that was due under the terms of the contract. It seems like both parties came together to negotiate and find a solution, avoiding any legal battle. A great result for Barcelona
The move was announced by the official Barca channel this morning.
The French forward arrived in Spain in 2017 and went on to make 185 appearances, scoring 62 goals in the process.
Dembele has had his ups and downs since arriving at Camp Nou but had enjoyed some of his best football under current manager Xavi, with the forward scoring 11 goals and creating 21 assists since Xavi arrived.
Barcelona left disappointed with Dembele’s decision
The Barcelona manager has been left disappointed by the forward’s decision to move on, considering how much he helped him regain his best form. The players are also believed to be disappointed by Dembele’s decision to leave so close to the season opener against Getafe on Sunday.
Although the exit is not as acrimonious as Neymar’s all those years ago, Dembele leaving is a difficult pill to swallow for the Barca management team who were relying on him for the upcoming campaign.
Dembele enjoyed great success at Barca having won three league titles, two Copas del Rey and two Spanish Super Cups. Dembele has often spoken about his desire to win the Champions League and has decided to move to a team who’s never won the Champions League, which is a strange decision. Although I’m sure he’s receiving very good compensation.
How to Barcelona replace Dembele?
We took a look at that question recently, and fortunately for Barca, they have plenty of options.
Internally Ansu Fati, Abde and Ferran Torres have enjoyed productive pre-seasons and 16-year-old Lamine Yamal has burst onto the scene with an impressive cameo against Tottenham.
There is talk that Neymar could make a triumphant return, but there’s a long way to go in that discussion.
I liked Dembele, but this won’t impact Barcelona that much considering the options they have. I’m more interested in how much Barca will get from the transfer. Under the contract, Barcelona was set to receive 50% as long as some clauses were met. However Barcelona have disputed whether those clauses were met, and as such was looking for a bigger percentage of the sale.
It’ll be interesting to hear if they achieved that, or if Dembele held firm on his 50%. It’s clear they’ve come to some agreement, we just don’t know what that agreement is.