The football transfer merry-go-round hasn’t really begun in earnest just yet, but when the first domino falls it could trigger a chain reaction across Europe’s biggest clubs, including at Barcelona.
The last thing that Xavi needs having built his Barca squad into La Liga title winners, is for the vultures to come circling for his best players, however, he may be powerless to stop one leaving for as little as €50m.
That’s because Ousmane Dembele’s buy out clause stands at that amount at present, and whilst Football Espana note that the Catalans are working on a new contract for the French World Cup winner, it could come too late.
According to FootMercato (h/t Mundo Deportivo), Dembele is the top target for Paris Saint-Germain if they sell their star player, Kylian Mbappe.
The striker has made it clear that he wants to walk away from the club at the end of next season, when he would be able to do so as a free man.
That’s not a situation that PSG can contemplate happening, and it’s thought that they will work to get him out of the club before the start of the 2023/24 campaign if he insists on refusing to sign a new deal or a 12-month extension to his current one.
Barcelona will be hoping that they can either agree a new deal with Dembele or that PSG can’t find a buyer for Mbappe, because if either of those scenarios change, Barca’s season will likely start off on the wrong foot.