Contract rebel winger now willing to lower salary to stay at Barcelona

The renewal of players has been prioritized by the club over the past few months. Since the arrival of Xavi Hernandez, Ousmane Dembélé’s renewal has taken over as the primary goal for the board.

Though one would expect the Frenchman to hasten the process after knowing of his big role in the team, negotiations progressed in the opposite direction. However, Gerard Romero does bring in some good news regarding the situation.

According to the Spanish journalist, Barcelona thinks that the winger will renew his contract at the end of the long-drawn saga. Though the player has been playing with the board to get a higher salary on his new contract, the club believes that he will end up lowering his salary by close to €6 million gross per year to stay in Catalonia.

Since his arrival at the Spanish club two seasons ago, the forward has not had it easy. Repeated injuries have prevented him from seeing any continuity in the side.

His most recent long-term injury was at the Euros, where he suffered a muscular lesion that took several months to heal. Xavi has called him an irreplaceable part of his setup on many occasions, but Dembélé is yet to deliver the goods to the manager.

The former Borussia Dortmund star has played in Barcelona’s last six games in La Liga and the Champions League but managed his first direct goal involvement of the season only against Elche.

Dembélé is expected to start today against Sevilla, an opposition he has a good record against, as he showed what he is capable of against Los Nervionenses earlier in February by scoring a massive solo goal in the 29th minute.