Barcelona look set to win the battle to sign French starlet Ousmane Dembele. The 20-year-old is one of two players earmarked to replace Neymar – the other being Philippe Coutinho – but Borussia Dortmund appeared unwilling to do business.
A lot has changed, however. The Bundesliga outfit suspended the attacker indefinitely after he failed to show up for training. Furthermore, the former Rennes ace failed to answer calls from the club in presumably an attempt to force a Camp Nou move.
Dembele was thus forced to train alone, as Dortmund sorted out his future amid interest from one of Europe’s biggest clubs. The Catalan giants have reportedly agreed a £90m fee which will be paid up front, but Bosz’s side want an additional £27m in add-ons, which the Blaugrana are reluctant to cough up.
Nonetheless, the player is still keen to force his exit. Bild caught Dembele packing bags into a black Mercedes A-Class, which suggests his Signal Iduna Park farewell is upon us.
BOMBA!! Última imagen (BILD) de Dembélé esta noche a las 20:30 h. en un coche lleno de bolsas y maletas. Se desconoce destino. pic.twitter.com/nKIO31KcxL
— Marta Morales (@MartaMoralesL) August 15, 2017
This comes shortly after Dortmund announced that a deal is “currently unlikely”, claiming to have rejected an offer from the Copa del Rey champions in a bid to earn as much money as possible from the desperate club.
The 3-1 loss to Real Madrid at the Spanish Super Cup exposed Barca’s need for a Neymar replacement, as they were embarrassed at home against their bitter rivals. Paulinho’s deal was announced the following day, but it is an exciting attacker to help Messi and Suarez that the fans call for.
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