During his first press conference as anewBarcelona coach, Xavi Hernandezhad stressed thatthemain priorityfor the club would be to extend Ousmane Dembele‘s contract which is set to expire next summer. Apparently. the former midfielderconsidersthe Frenchmanvitalfor his project in spite of hiscomplicated injury history.
The Blaugranastill have some time to prepare anoffer despite all the financial limitations, becauseas early asJanuary2022, Dembele would be able to sign a pre-agreement with any other club and complete the transferafter the currentseason ends.
Barca president Joan Laporta and his associates are reportedlyworking hardto meetthe winger’s new contract requirements. However, Catalan newspaperMundo Deportivohas revealed thatthe Camp Nou sideare now facingfierce competition for the former Borussia Dortmund star.
€15 million reasons for Dembele to not renew with Barcelona
Thereportclaims that the new Premier League powerhouse, Newcastle have already tabled in an astronomicalbidwhich would be veryhard to refuse, in spite of the fact thatthe 24-year-old forward would be willing towait to hearBarcelona’s official offer first.
It is considered that the Magpies have gone all-in in an attempt tosecure Dembele’s signature, thus, offering him an annual salary of €15 millionand an additional on-signing bonusof €15m. As a result, Newcastle are believed to be in pole position for the signing of Dembele, because it looks unlikely that the La Liga giants would evencome close to such sumsgiven their difficultfinancial situation.
However, the source adds that Xavi could play an enormouspart inthe player’s decision, so Barcelona have put all their faith into their legend in order to persuadeDembele to optto stay at the club witha much lower salary than the one offered by Newcastle, who were recentlybought by Saudi billionaires.