Barcelona suspect that Ousmane Dembele may have already reached an agreement with Newcastle United ahead of the summer transfer window.
That’s according to Mundo Deportivo, who say that ‘certain information’ has reached the Catalan giants that indicates Dembele has already agreed to move elsewhere, and Newcastle are one of the ‘suspected’ clubs.
Dembele is out of contract at the Camp Nou this summer, and it has appeared for months that he will be leaving on a free transfer.
However, there has been a sudden about-turn in that today, with it made clear Barcelona may not go for Leeds United star Raphinha this summer as they believe Dembele could renew his deal.
Indeed, it’s been reported that the Frenchman has told his teammates he wants to stay in Barcelona, adding further confusion to the mix.
Mundo now pick up on that and say while Barcelona ‘take on board’ this message, they have advised him to ‘impose his will’ over his agent as he is the one calling the shots in negotiations.
Barcelona’s board and executives are aware of Dembele’s apparent conversations with his teammates and give some ‘credibility’ to them, but there are ‘suspicions’ he has ‘already made a deal’ elsewhere.
‘Specifically Newcastle and PSG’ are ‘suspected’ as being the clubs who may have struck a deal, with the information Barcelona have received pointing towards them.
They, therefore, have sent a message to the player that if he wants to continue at the club, he will have to be in charge of the negotiations and not his agent, who is saying the opposite to the player.
They are clear that Dembele’s words will only have weight if he puts his agent on the same path and has that clearly communicated to the board and Mateu Alemany, who is in charge of contract renewals.
Until that point, they will continue to suspect it is all part of the game, with their information firmly pointing towards the player doing a deal with Newcastle or PSG already.
