The relationship is definitely broken beyond repair between Ousmane Dembele and FC Barcelona.
The Catalan club have held out an olive branch for a while now, in the hope that the Frenchman will accept lower wages, as most of the rest of the Barca squad are believed to have done, but a steadfast decision not to do so has ultimately ended his time at the club.
Mateu Alemany gave an interview to the official Barcelona website where he made it clear why the club were now taking a hard line with the player.
As a result, he wasn’t considered for the Copa del Rey fixture at Athletic Club, a match Barca would go on to lose in extra time.
With eight days left of the current transfer window, there’s still time to get a deal done, but that would require the Frenchman to be agreeable to a January switch.
MORE: Xhaka’s ridiculous claim
Nothing in his demeanour suggests that he’s willing to do that, but would rather wait until the summer where he can bag a fat signing on fee as part of any deal with interested parties.
One of those is thought to be Liverpool, according to El Nacional.
Jurgen Klopp is believed to have tried to sign him once before, and news that he might be willing to again shouldn’t really come as a surprise.
Though Dembele will need to change his attitude.
According to the Sky Sports, he didn’t train on Sunday because of stomach problems.
The timing of the issue is fooling no one and goes to show how much work Liverpool will have to do in order for Dembele to fit into what is a tightly knit squad.
No-one at Liverpool including Klopp actually wants him, there’s no way he would put in the work rate needed and he’s injured waaay to often.
Messi se lamentó cuando Dembelé fallo esa ocasión para el cuarto gol. Creo que muchos nos sentimos igual que Messi, ya que no había que darle ni una posibilidad al Liverpool y había que acabarles ahí! Para que se les haga más cuesta la remonatada en Anfield. (que lo iban a conseguir de todas formas, pero un 4-0 talvez te eche para atrás que un 3-0 totalmente asumíble, además que le daba confianza al Barça) No meter ese cuarto gol en el Camp Nou terminó resquebrajando la ya alicaída confianza del equipo, por eso Messi no celebró la victoria.