- 11 hours ago
Does Raphinha transfer mean Dembele leaves Barcelona?
FT Desk
- 5 Apr 2022 03:45 CDT
- 3 min read
If Barcelona complete the signing of Leeds winger Raphinha this summer, it will have no bearing on the future of Ousmane Dembele.
That is according to AS, who report that it is very possible that both widemen will be at Camp Nou next season.
It had been widely reported last week that if Barcelona sign Raphinha, that would spell the end of Dembele’s time at the club because the Blaugrana can’t afford both players.
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However, AS claims that is not the case. Indeed, Barcelona would like both Raphinha and Dembele. The only knock-on effect would be that Adama Traore’s loan move from Wolves will likely not be made permanent this summer.
Gianluigi Longari explained how Raphinha has two clauses in his contract for buying clubs.
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He currently has a minimum fee release clause of €75 million, which means that Leeds cannot stop any club who bids that amount.
However, if Leeds are relegated to the Championship, his release clause fee will drop to €25m.
Over the last week, it has now widely been reported that Barcelona are in advanced talks for the wideman.
As for Dembele, Barcelona are still trying to convince the Frenchman to sign a new contract that expires this summer.
Dembele seemed almost certain to leave this summer on a Bosman, having spectacularly fallen out with the club this year.
Contract talks collapsed in January, with the club then trying to push him into either signing a new contract or leaving that month.
In the end, Dembele stayed put and he has been reintegrated into the team over the past couple of months.
The winger has been in brilliant form, leading to renewed attempts to convince him to stay.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has made it clear that while he wants the player to stay he won’t raise his contract offer to Dembele.
