Transfer Centre

Ousmane Dembele agent hits out at Barcelona over contract dispute

By Matt Law, Football Editor | 19 January 2022

Ousmane Dembele's agent says that Barcelona are slowly "losing" the France international due to their conduct when it comes to a new deal.

Ousmane Dembele's agent has insisted that his client will not be forced into signing a new deal at Barcelona.

The 24-year-old's contract at Camp Nou is due to expire at the end of June, and there have been claims that the attacker has already decided to leave the Catalan outfit on a free transfer, with Manchester United and Juventus competing to sign him.

Reports have suggested that Dembele wants £700,000 a week to sign a new deal with Barcelona, which the La Liga club would find impossible to pay due to their financial issues.

Dembele's agent Moussa Sissoko has said that Xavi's side are slowly "losing" the World Cup winner amid reports that the attacker could be frozen out of the team if he does not pen a new deal.

"They're putting the pressure on, but it doesn't work with people like us. Maybe it works with agents who are close to Barcelona. That's not the case with me, I'm here to defend my player's interests," Sissoko told RMC Sport.

"We're not here to react to debates on social media, but the truth has to be said. Yes, we have high demands, but we've shown in the past that Ousmane's career choices are not dictated by money, else he wouldn't be here [Manchester United and Real Madrid had higher offers in 2017].

"Then, if Barcelona wanted to negotiate, they could have come to the table with us to talk. Except there are no discussions and there are threats coming from them that he won't play.

"That's not allowed. We will exercise Ousmane Dembele's rights if necessary. We don't know what we're going to do, nothing is decided. But the management are losing Ousmane by themselves. From the start, we've shown that we wanted to negotiate, with terms, but without closing the door."

Dembele has scored once and provided two assists in 11 appearances for Barcelona during the 2021-22 campaign.