There are four days left until the end of the transfer market and Barça still have not solved the Ousmane Dembélé riddle, vital for Barça to be able to close some arrivals before 31 January. “Without movements we will not be able to make any other entry,” they insist from the Camp Nou, where they have become accustomed to having to mature operations before they have enough salary margin to be able to register them in the League. He spent the summer with Eric Garcia, Kun Agüero and Memphis and a couple of weeks ago with the first major signing of Laporta’s second term, Ferran Torres, signed thanks to the transfer of Coutinho to Aston Villa and the surprising renewal of Umtiti. To close higher in the short term, Mateu Alemany needs things to happen with Dembélé’s ruinous contract, which expires on June 30. One option involves canceling it, which depends on the will of the player and the interest of another club; another would be to renew it downwards to cover both the salary and the outstanding amortization.
The subject is tired of so many times that it has been explained. But that’s what happens as long as Barça doesn’t completely close deals with new sponsors – Spotify is the one that generates the most consensus – or new partners to capitalize on – CVC, the league’s supplier, is still not ruled out. Dembélé has the key right now and time is running out. As reported Sports world i Sport, his representative, Moussa Sissoko, met in Barcelona with Xavi Hernández and Jordi Cruyff to explain that his intention is to continue at the club, which does not mean that he accepts the latest formal proposal from Alemany, but yes which confirms the suspicions that the club had about its multiband game. “Everything has reached a point where no one trusts them,” they say from the Camp Nou in relation to the strategy of the heterodox agent, who has spent three weeks putting the renovation on the price of gold in to say he wants to negotiate it “without pressure.” Once he has seen first hand that his representative may be left without playing if he does not renew, he has made his way to Barcelona to convey good intentions, which shows that his position is not as tough as it seemed and that he does not have precisely a crowd of clubs interested in bathing him in gold.
Adama Traoré, another name
Pending the outcome of this matter, which conditions 100% the most immediate sports planning, the sports management is working with the priority of strengthening the attack. If Dembélé renews or leaves, the club will be able to fight to sign Álvaro Morata, who is Xavi’s request for the striker. The Madrid player is in Madrid, hoping that there will be a salary margin for his arrival and that the clubs involved in his situation – Barça, Atlético de Madrid and Juventus – will be in tune to promote his return to the League. However, the play is complicated because there are many sporting and economic conditions. That’s why there are caps ready in case the operation is thwarted. German is confined to covid, but is connected to try to find solutions. One of them, according to Catalunya Ràdio, is Adama Traoré, a very different profile from Morata who would make it easier to return to Barcelona largely because Jorge Mendes is his agent. On the other hand, talks to incorporate a left-back – Ajax’s Tagliafico is the first option – continue to move forward.
