Alemany meets with Barcelona contract rebel’s agent, player in no hurry to sign a new deal

Earlier today, it was reported that Barcelona were set to hold a meeting with the representatives of Ousmane Dembele to further the discussions regarding a new contract for the Frenchman.

The former Borussia Dortmund winger has a little over six months left on his current deal with the Catalan giants. The club’s attempts to tie him down to a new contract have not yielded the desired results as of yet, but efforts continue to be made as manager Xavi Hernandez sees him as an integral part of his plans for the future.

Now, Cadena SER’s Santi Ovalle has provided a fresh update on the matter, claiming that Barca’s sporting director, Mateu Alemany, has completed a meeting with Dembele’s agent, Moussa Sissokho.

During the meeting, it is claimed that Alemany was made aware of the swathe of clubs interested in signing 2018 FIFA World Cup winner, with Dembele believed to be entertaining contract offers from several clubs from across Europe. However, it was also made clear that the France international’s priority was to continue at Barcelona.

The Catalans are showing a great deal of urgency to get the matter sorted out and it had been earlier reported that they had set a 15-day deadline for the Frenchman to arrive at a decision. In spite of that, the ex-Rennes starlet is understood to be in no hurry to sign a new deal and is prepared to bide his time.

Talks are expected to continue between both parties as they look to reach an agreement, although SPORT is claiming that Barca came away from the meeting with more bad feelings than good.

It is said that the player’s agent, Sissokho, asked for more time to think about the club’s proposal, which the Blaugrana believe are tactics to procrastinate and drag the issue out until January when the winger will be able to negotiate with foreign clubs over a pre-contract agreement.

The Catalans suspect that the representative is pushing Dembele to sign for a different club in Europe, as he believes that would get the Frenchman a bigger payday and a signing-on bonus, while the agent himself could stand to make a significant commission from any such deal.