Barcelona restart Ousmane Dembele contract talks
Barcelona have restarted contract talks with Ousmane Dembele, with sporting director Mateu Alemany flying out to Morocco to meet the player's agent.
During the first half of the season Dembele and Barça were engaged in protracted negotiations where several ultimatums were pushed back, before eventually being ignored altogether by the 24-year-old's representatives.
When it seemingly became clear the Frenchman would not be penning fresh terms, Barcelona publicly stated that they would be looking to sell him. However, no buyer emerged and Dembele has since forced his way back into Xavi's plans with a string of terrific performances.
He has registered an impressive eight assists in his last six La Liga games, including two in El Clasico last month, making him one of the first names on the team sheet at present.
This stunning form has seemingly convinced Barcelona to make one final ploy to convince Dembele to sign a new deal, with Alemany flying out to the Moroccan capital Marrakesh to meet his agent.
The sporting director gave an update on talks in a recent interview.
"He and his agents have known for nearly a year what our position is. For us, he can stay, as long as it’s within sustainable salary limits and proportionate to his teammates," Alemany said.
90min understands that Dembele has offers from Chelsea and Paris-Saint Germain, both of which would see him land a significant pay rise. Barcelona have not come close to matching these proposals yet but that has not weakened their desire to hold on to one of their best players.
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