Barcelona met with key forward’s agent over contract renewal

In a major development, Sergi Capdevila of SPORT is reporting that Barcelona director Mateu Alemany held a meeting with Moussa Sissoko, the agent of Ousmane Dembele, to begin talks over a contract renewal.

Dembele signed only a two-year contract with the club last summer after his previous deal had expired. Negotiations had proven to be quite tough with his representative, Sissoko, leading to a dragged-out saga.

Dembele’s new contract stands to expire next year while it also has a release clause worth €50 million that will be active in July. Given the situation, the Blaugrana are keen to avoid a repeat of last summer and are hoping to resolve his contract situation at the earliest.

Reports last week had suggested that Barcelona would be meeting Dembele’s agent soon to begin initial discussions over a new deal, with the player himself understood to be intent on renewing his deal at Spotify Camp Nou.

And, as per the report from SPORT, the meeting has taken place with Alemany talking with Sissoko on Monday and informing him of the club’s desire to renew the Frenchman.

While it was nothing more than just initial contact, the report states that both parties came out with a positive feeling from the meeting and more discussions will be scheduled in the coming weeks to thrash out a deal as soon as possible.

Dembele has grown into a key player for Barcelona under Xavi Hernandez. The 25-year-old has been pivotal to the Catalans’ push for the La Liga title this season, although he missed three months of action due to an injury.

Indeed, the former Borussia Dortmund ace returned to action only this past weekend against Real Betis, featuring as a substitute. He has once again been left out on the bench by Xavi for the game against Osasuna.