Barcelona have reportedly decided that Ousmane Dembele will still be with them next season amid speculation of a move to Liverpool.
After an injury-plagued first season with the Catalan giants, the Frenchman showed his worth last year with 14 goals and nine assists in 42 appearances.
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However, amid rumours of a return for Neymar, as per the Mirror, there have been suggestions that Dembele will be sacrificed in order to create space in the squad and raise funds for the Brazilian superstar.
As noted by The Express, that will not be the case as despite reported interest from Liverpool, Barcelona won’t sell Dembele this summer and that decision has been communicated to the player and his entourage.
Further, it’s added that the player himself has expressed his desire to stay on at the Nou Camp, and so that will be a blow for Liverpool, assuming that their interest was genuine.
The Merseyside giants are coming off the back of an impressive campaign in which they pushed Manchester City all the way in the Premier League title race before ending on a high note by lifting the Champions League trophy.
With that in mind, Jurgen Klopp appears to have plenty of quality and depth at his disposal already, particularly in attack with Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino leading his charge.
Nevertheless, it will be key for them to continue to strengthen where possible to sustain their success and pursuit of major honours, and Dembele could have helped them with that.
However, based on the report above, it sounds as though he has an important role to play for Barcelona moving forward, although perhaps if Neymar’s return does become official, then the Spanish giants might have to reconsider their position.
