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Barcelona have made it clear to Ousmane Dembele that they do not intend to raise their offer currently on the table for the Frenchman to renew his contract, according to reports in Spain.
The winger is officially no longer as Barcelona player after his contract at the Nou Camp expired on Friday morning and he is a free agent after failing to reach an agreement over a new deal with the Catalan giants.
Amid Barcelona’s financial crisis, Dembele would have had to have taken a significant pay cut to stay at the club.
The club’s last offer to Dembele would have seen him have to take a 40 per cent reduction on his former wages, settling for the same salary as Ansu Fati, so Barcelona could have stayed within the LaLiga salary cap limits, according to SPORT.
The Spanish club have made it clear this is their best deal and will not consider raising the offer.
The last contact between the player and the club was on Monday when Dembele’s agent Moussa Sissoko travelled to Barcelona for another meeting to discuss a potential contract extension after previous offers had been turned down.
With Barca coach Xavi pushing for an agreement, Sissoko made the trip having previously made it clear that no agreement could be reached under the current conditions.
Xavi even interrupted his holidays to ensure he was present at the meeting as he has made the France international his priority for the right wing position.
However, no progress was made as Barcelona once again underlined their difficulty in making an improved offer due to financial constraints.
But SPORT’s report adds that the LaLiga side do not consider negotiations to be over and have insisted that they are not ending talks as they are said to be keen to keep him at the club.
Meanwhile, Dembele reportedly has various offers on the table from other clubs – including Chelsea – looking to snap him up as a free agent but has yet to make a decision on his future.
