2023-07-30 22:17:55
BarcelonaBarça, PSG, North American tours, termination clauses and face-to-face conversations in luxury hotel rooms and lobbies. The context that marked Neymar’s farewell five years ago is now being repeated on a smaller scale with the footballer who had to repair the enormous void left by the Brazilian on the Barça left wing. The erratic yet brilliant Ousmane Dembélé is now the one with a foot and a half at the French club. The petrodollars tempt the Norman extreme and a termination clause of 50 million euros until August 1 (that is, until this Monday at 11:59 p.m.) can speed up an operation that would leave a considerable hole in the eleven type of Xavi Hernández two weeks before the start of the League.
The sense of uncertainty surrounding Dembélé’s future increased considerably in the hours following Barça-Madrid in Dallas. The winger, author of the first goal of the match against the You meringues, had always maintained the intention of continuing with Blaugrana against the will of Moussa Sissoko, his eccentric agent. But the pressure from PSG in recent days has made him hesitate to the point of asking for a substantial improvement in conditions from Barça, with whom he has been discussing a possible renewal beyond June 2024 for weeks. Sources of the negotiation spoke of ‘a request to increase Mateu Alemany’s initial proposal by 6 or 7 million per year, an extreme that the football director flatly rejects because it would break the salary scale and jeopardize the viability plan approved by the League.
As a result of this situation, and considering the firm interest of PSG, which remains determined to keep Kylian Mbappé away from the team as long as he refuses to renew, Barça stands in the offer of extension until 2027 and forwards to the exit clause in force until this Monday night. However, it must be remembered that of these 50 million, the Barcelona club will only see half of it. The other part, as agreed a year ago, will be for the footballer and Sissoko, who since 2017 has been pursuing a millionaire commission with the movements of his representative.
If the operation ends up closing now, as everything indicates, Dembélé will have in fact a transfer fee and a first-class salary in exchange for allowing his new club to acquire him for a not exorbitant price. That is why Paris wants to resolve the matter by the fast track. Failure to do so would expose them to negotiate with Alemany and Joan Laporta below 100 million, which is the striker’s termination clause from August 1 until the end of the contract. The next few hours will be decisive to know how it will all end, but it is clear that PSG are not joking. In fact, he already communicated by letter to Barça his desire to obtain the services of one of his most unbalanced footballers. Parisians want the series to end now.
Pessimism at Barça
For his part, Xavi, who has not stopped defending the figure of Dembélé inside and outside the club, has run out of arguments to retain him in the face of the economic muscle of the French champion and Sissoko’s insistence. “In the end he has to decide, but we are pessimistic”, they told the ARA from the Barça dressing room, where the movements of the player’s representative and PSG in the middle of the preparation phase were received with a combination of surprise and resignation of the season
The likely exit of the Mosquito will help in terms of fair play financial with a minimum capital gain of 25 million for the release of one of the highest salaries, but at the same time it will weaken the squad and force Barça to move urgently to find talented alternatives in the market. “We have to strengthen ourselves a little more, we have to be more competitive”, expressed Xavi just after the classic. Time will tell if Alemany and Deco get what the technical team is asking for. One of the options on the horizon would be to advance the arrival of Vitor Roque, although the commitment with Athletico Paranaense is for the striker to stay in Brazil until Christmas.
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