Ousmane Dembele has agreed to join Paris Saint-Germain from FC Barcelona according to Foot Mercato.
FC Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele has agreed to join Paris Saint-Germain according to Foot Mercato journalist Santi Aouna in France.
Transfer market expert Aouna was one of the first voices to report that Dembele had become a priority signing for the Qatari-owned Ligue 1 giants on July 6.
On Friday, RMC Sport reported that the 26-year-old was just a step away from switching allegiances.
Sunday then saw news from multiple sources spread detailing how Barca felt “pessimistic” that their €105 million ($115 million) signing, ironically bought with the money the Catalans received from PSG for Neymar in 2017, would stay with them.
Later on Sunday evening, L’Equipe reported that the Dembele camp had decided to leave Barca when they learned that the Blaugrana had offered him and Gavi to PSG as part of a potential swap deal for Kylian Mbappe.
L’Equipe added that Dembele’s transfer was “imminent”, and that agreeing personal terms with the winger was the only thing preventing the deal from being finalized.
According to Aouna, this box has now been ticked with Dembele deciding to join PSG until 2028.
At COPE, Helena Condis explained that the World Cup winner has already told some soon-to-be former Barca teammates that he will make the move.
The transfer will be completed through activating the player’s ridiculously low €50 million ($55 million) release clause on Monday, and Dembele must flee Barca’s preseason tour of the US immediately to deposit the money with La Liga himself.
In another head-scratching feature of the fresh terms that Barca agreed with Dembele in 2022, when renewing his contract until 2024 and setting the release clause, the player and his agent Moussa Sissoko can pocked half of the cash.
Reacting to the news, Gerard Romero revealed that Sissoko reportedly called the Spanish league to inform them that PSG will activate the release clause on Monday.
If this is not done by midnight, PSG will then see the amount double to €100 million ($110 million) on August 1.
Losing Dembele in such a manner, and for just €25 million ($27.5 million) when all is said and done, is a huge slap in the face to Barca.
President Joan Laporta will allegedly declare “war” on PSG and ask them to be looked into from a Financial Fair Play perspective if the deal goes ahead.
Yet seven years on since the Qataris snatched Neymar in a similar fashion, they have once again come to sting Barca and rob them of one of their best players.
This go around, however, it is insultingly for almost ten times less the €222 million ($224 million) that it cost to get the Brazilian out of his contract at Camp Nou.