Now he has: Ousmane Dembelé (25) has signed a new contract with FC Barcelona. However, there were always aspects that spoke against a renewal of the contract.
Finally, FC Barcelona has calmed down about Ousmane Dembelé. The former Dortmund player, whose old contract with the Catalans expired at the end of June, has signed a new contract until 2024. At the same time, it often didn’t look like it would happen.
Salary issue: demotion in January
But first things first: In mid-September of last year, it was still said that Dembelé would extend his old contract promptly, including salary losses. However, this turned out to be the sticking point, because the injury-prone French World Champion of 2018 hesitated – according to reports, he was not prepared to earn less.
The situation even escalated to the point where Dembelé did not receive a new offer after an ultimatum was issued by the Catalans and was dropped from the squad on 20 January. “We told him and his agents that he had to leave immediately because we want committed players and we hope a transfer will happen before 31 January,” FCB sporting director Mateu Alemany said at the time.
Dembelé never saw a problem – and delivered athletically
“We talked for six or seven months, Barça made him several offers to keep the player with us. Offers that his advisors rejected,” Alemany continued at the time. Dembelé, on the other hand, said on the same day that he was “available”.
Barely three weeks later – although president Joan Laporta suspected “that Dembelé already had a contract with another club” – he surprisingly again represented an alternative for coach Xavi. And lo and behold: probably from the 1:1 in the Europa League against SSC Napoli at the latest, Dembelé was again registered with the Spanish FCB. Already at the end of February, after a 4:0 against Athletic Bilbao including three scorer points from the joker, the Frenchman was positively on everyone’s lips and played many games again.
Nevertheless, there was hardly any peace around the 25-year-old winger. The contract extension remained on ice until it officially expired on 30 June. Despite alleged interest from Paris St. Germain and Chelsea FC around Dembelé’s former coach Thomas Tuchel, the player never joined another club.
And so it comes as it almost had to: Dembelé signs a contract with Barça that is valid for two more seasons. Piquantly, according to a statement by president Laporta, this contract still contains the old “financial offer” for an extension, according to which the Frenchman reportedly had to accept a pay cut.
