Official: Ousmane Dembele signs new Barcelona contract
Robin Bairner
- Updated: 14 Jul 2022 11:35 BST
- 3 min read
Barcelona have announced that Ousmane Dembele has signed a new contract until 2024 with the club.
Dembele had briefly been a free agent after his previous deal expired at the end of June, but with no offers forthcoming, he has elected to remain at Camp Nou.
The announcement brings to a close negotiations that have lasted months and threatened to turn ugly at one stage.
Reports in Spain suggest he has taken a pay cut of 40% from his previous wage to sign on again with Barca, although there are significant incentives attached to the deal, which could see him actually earn more than before should they be hit.
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Dembele is Barcelona's assist king
Indeed, around Christmas, Barcelona were even threatening to leave the winger in the stands for the second half of the season as they tried to coerce him into signing a new contract. At that point, he was making wage demands that were deemed too great for the club.
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𝐍𝐎𝐖, 𝐘𝐄𝐒! pic.twitter.com/Exv7olDDwc— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) July 14, 2022
Xavi, however, is a huge fan of the 25-year-old France international and chose to persist with him during this difficult period. It was a decision that richly paid off, with Dembele putting an injury-hit first half of the season behind him to become arguably Barca's star man during the run in.
Despite missing 17 games, Dembele finished La Liga as the division's top assist maker, chalking up 13 decisive passes in total. Included in that run was a burst of nine assists in seven games, which all ended in victories - the club's best run of the season.
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He has been with Barcelona since 2017, when he signed for €105 million plus €40m in bonuses from Borussia Dortmund. Dembele arrived at the club as Neymar's replacement, though he has struggled to fill those boots, largely due to persistent injury problems.
Nevertheless, he has been deemed valuable enough to retain in what promises to be a loaded Barcelona attacking line for the 2022/23 season.
