According to transfer expert Romano, Barca is about to welcome "new signing" Ousmane Dembele. It is known that the French star will sign a contract with Barcelona for 2 seasons, until 2024. In the new contract, he will receive 6 million euros/season, a lower price than about 10 million euros/season in the old contract.
call Dembele a Barcelona rookie, because in fact this star became a free player from June 30. Therefore, this is considered a completely new deal, not a contract extension. It can be said that Barca has convinced Dembele to join this club, after he decided not to renew with Barca before.
Ousmane Dembele chose to return to Barca, that is because he could not find a new team. European giants are very cautious about the once-in-a-lifetime blockbuster from Dortmund, because he has a history of serious injuries. In 5 seasons playing for Barca, it is estimated that this star spent 2 years in the hospital.
With Dembele willing to return to the table to negotiate, Barca is now in the upper hand position. They offered a contract with a salary cut of up to 40% compared to before, but the French star still had to nod. This is considered a quality addition to coach Xavi. Last season, in just 21 La Liga games, Dembele created 13 assists and 1 goal, contributing greatly to the team finishing second behind Real Madrid.
It can be said that Dembele's 10-day gap and then reuniting with Barca ended the thorny negotiations between both sides. From the 2021-2022 winter, the Blaugrana have begun negotiating a contract extension with Dembele. However, he immediately refused because he did not want to be salary reduced in the new contract.
In response, Barca forced Dembele to leave in January 2022 to bring the money back, or accept an extension. Otherwise, they will push him to the bench. Contrary to expectations, Dembele did not extend or leave, while Moussa Sissoko's representative said indignantly: "That threat did not work for us."
Despite the great threat, coach Xavi finally had to use Dembele in the second leg, because at that time the Barca attack line did not have many quality strikers. The Laporta president has also repeatedly spoken out "Dembele is better than Mbappe", to "squeeze" Barca's 102 million euros.
With the trust of Barca, Dembele has shown extremely high performance in La Liga. He made 13 assists and became the most important player in coach Xavi's squad. Taking advantage of the warming relationship between the two, Barca continued to make offers for an extension. However, Dembele continued to refuse, simply because he did not want to reduce his salary.
After June 30, Dembele was full of confidence at the time to find a new team. However, Chelsea are no longer interested in him, having targeted Sterling and Raphinha. Liverpool bought Nunez, PSG renewed Mbappe, Juventus also bought Di Maria. At this time, even if Dembele was free, no one needed him anymore. In the end, Dembele had to return to his old place at Barca and of course he had to reduce his salary.
