Dembele to the stands? Barcelona president gives his final verdict

Amid question marks over what Barcelona plan to do with Ousmane Dembele after failing to offload him in January, Joan Laporta has now provided an update on the situation of the winger.

The Frenchman rejected the club’s contract offer and turned down offers to leave Camp Nou in January. As a result, the Catalans are believed to be contemplating sending him to the stands for the rest of the campaign until his contract expires.

There had been speculations of a potential contract termination as well. But that seems to be off the table as things stand. And, with regard to him being banished from the first team, Laporta has claimed that the decision will be up to manager Xavi Hernandez.

Speaking at the unveiling of Adama Traore, the Barcelona president shed light on Dembele’s situation, saying: “Whether Ousmane Dembélé will play again or not will be decided by the coach.”

“Dembele’s issue is determined by the coach. The coach is thinking about the present and the future, and the player who does not want to continue – it is difficult for him to play. We want the best for him and the club,” he added.

Laporta then questioned the ex-Borussia Dortmund winger’s commitment to Barcelona while lauding the new signing, Adama.

“A player who doesn’t want to renew with Barça… He will know why he does it but that will have its consequences. We want players with commitment, as Adama has shown,” he said.

Elaborating on the contract discussions with the 2018 FIFA World Cup winner, the Barça supremo added:

“Our renewal proposal for Dembélé expired on December 20th. If they wanted to sit down now to negotiate it would be seen, but they have not wanted to talk to us at this time. He gave us to understand that he was very grateful with the offer but…”

“A similar situation occurred with Ilaix and in the end, a solution was found. With Dembélé it has not been possible,” he further added.

When asked about why Dembele was different to someone like Kylian Mbappe, whose contract also stands to expire in the summer, Laporta said:

“Yes, it is true that these players’ contract expires soon, Dembele suffered a lot of injuries and Barcelona spent a lot of money for him, so we are frustrated, we understood his injuries and tried to take care of him as much as possible.”

As for Xavi’s stance on the matter, recent reports have indicated that the manager plans to count on Dembele for the remainder of the campaign. The 42-year-old is against the idea of banishing the forward to the stands and prefers to use him as long as he stays put at Camp Nou.

Source: BarcaTV+