Dembele’s Barcelona contract talks 'like a box of surprises'
Carlo Garganese
- Updated: 23 May 2023 08:55 CDT
- 3 min read
Joan Laporta admits his admiration for Ousmane Dembele as a player but says that Barcelona won’t raise their contract offer in an attempt to get him to stay.
Dembele’s contract at Camp Nou expires at the end of the season and he has rejected all offers of a renewal.
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Barcelona president Laporta had been very keen for the winger to pen a new deal. However, negotiations collapsed at the start of 2022 as Dembele was unhappy about the club offering him a paycut while spending €55 million plus €10m in add-ons for new buy Ferran Torres.
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Barcelona, meanwhile, complained that Dembele was asking for too much money, with reports that he demanded €240m in order to sign a new contract at Barcelona.
The relationship between Dembele and Barcelona then deteriorated, with the club trying to push him into either signing a new contract or leaving in January.
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In the end, Dembele stayed put and he has been reintegrated into the team over the last month, playing exceptionally and linking up superbly with January signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Laporta once again confirmed that he wants Dembele to stay but says that Barcelona won’t improve their salary offer.
What did Laporta say?
"I like Dembélé very much, we like him very much and we like the way he plays, but we have set salary levels and he should accept them,” Laporta told reporters.
“Does he already have an agreement with another club? I don't know his representative. It's like a box of surprises."
Dembele has been heavily linked with a Bosman Transfer to both Chelsea and PSG, although a move to the former now seems unlikely given the ownership situation at the Blues.
