Barcelona need to cut bait with Ousmane Dembele
Barcelona cannot break the bank in an effort to re-sign the Frenchman
News broke yesterday that negotiations between Barcelona and Ousmane Dembélé’s representatives on a contract extension had broken off with an exit seen as the most likely outcome.
New details have emerged regarding the situation including what his representatives were asking for in order for the French forward to put pen to paper.
Some of the demands included an annual salary of €43 million a year alongside bonuses contingent on winning titles such as LaLiga.
True✅ Ousmane Dembélé demanded for a new contract an annual salary of € 43 Mio at @FCBarcelona, a bonus of € 5 Mio when winning the UCL and € 2 Mio for the championship. That why Barcelona want to sell him in January
— Christian Falk (@cfbayern) December 30, 2021
Anyone looking at the numbers would rationally come to the conclusion the Catalan side simply cannot afford to invest so heavily in a player who has struggled to stay healthy and who has been inconsistent.
On the pitch, he certainly adds a dimension Barcelona lack but the problem is we haven’t seen nearly enough of it since he’s spent the majority of his tenure injured. The club paid €105 million to sign him from Borussia Dortmund and has yet to play out an entire season.
Given Barcelona’s fragile financial situation, it would be ludicrous to agree to the terms set out by Dembélé’s agent. They are certainly within their rights to ask for it but so is the club in rejecting it.
Sometimes a change of scenery is something a player needs and in this case it is probably for the best for both sides. Barcelona can save the money they were going to spend on a renewal and invest it in other areas on the pitch. Dembélé won’t be short of suitors and can hopefully stay healthy at whatever club he ends up joining.
According to Mundo Deportivo, there is no going back and do not intend to improve their offer. Handing out huge contracts with high wages is the reason Barcelona find themselves in their current mass and Joan Laporta cannot make the same mistakes as the old board regardless of how much he likes the player.
The only question that remains, if indeed they are at a point of no return, is how to handle his departure.
There are a couple of options on the table.
Barcelona could try to sell him during the January window at a low price simply to try to get something for him. In this scenario, he could be available for as low as €10 million.
https://twitter.com/ReshadRahman_/status/1476564283681030144
They could also keep him, let his contract run out but send him to the stands. Though that hurts the team as he is a player Xavi counts on. If they want to turn their season around and finish in a Champions League position, they need to play him.
As a last resort, according to Sport, Barcelona could also just decide to terminate his deal and let him leave now. However, they believe Dembélé would reject that proposal.
Throughout the negotiations, there was always a sense he was not going to renew and was indeed going to run out his contract so he can leave on a free and get as much as he could from whoever he signed with, which, again, he is within his right to do.
No one can really be surprised by the way things are turning out. But it does leave a sour taste in the mouth of the club and supporters considering how much was spent on a player who has been habitually injured throughout his tenure.
Despite Laporta being disappointed given he thought they were on the right track, the best thing to do now is to cut bait and focus his attention somewhere else.
Next. Talks between Barcelona and Dembele hit a snag. dark
At the very least, Barcelona will no longer be waiting for the shoe to drop and wince at every sprint, or challenge, waiting for Dembélé to come up injured. Players come and go and Dembélé is no different.