The departure of Ousmane Dembele from FC Barcelona shocked many last summer.
Xavi Hernandez gave him a key role and really liked the Frenchman. For the first time since his arrival, Dembele appeared to be happy at the club. However, Paris Saint-Germain snatched him at the price of his release clause of 50 million euros.
Part of the surprise comes from the fact that the former Rennes man was ready to leave the Blaugrana after struggling for so long to finally have everything in place so he could give his best. According to Cadena SER, he was initially open to the idea of staying at the club.
Dembele had one year left on his lease last summer and was awaiting a renewal offer from Barcelona to tie his future to the club. But with relations strained between his agent Moussa Sissoko and Mateu Alemany, then director of football at the Blaugrana, no offer was made.
Despite the arrival of new sporting director Deco, the PSG winger did not receive any extension offers, either before or after PSG’s interest, with the Blaugrana having made it clear that they did not see any inconvenience to him leaving the club. In fact, if PSG convinced Dembele to join, it was partly thanks to the presence of Deco. Before joining Barcelona, Deco was Raphinha’s agent and the French club argued that Dembele was unlikely to get fair treatment, either sportingly or financially, with Deco’s presence.
Dembele was one of the Catalan side’s most productive strikers last season and played a key role in winning the title, despite missing several months of action due to injuries.
