FC Barcelona Announce New Contract Renewal of French International Ousmane Dembele
Madrid, July 14: Spanish Giants FC Barcelona announced on Thursday that Ousmane Dembele will stay in Catalonia and have signed a new contract which will keep him till the end of June 2024.
The contract comes two weeks after Dembele’s previous deal with Barcelona expired, and ends months of speculation when at times he looked to be more likely to leave than to remain at the club.
Dembele is thought to have accepted a pay cut of around 40 percent to remain playing his football at the Camp Nou Stadium, where he moved in the summer of 2017 from Borussia Dortmund, reports Xinhua.
“I’m really happy to be staying at Barca. I am going to work hard and I hope this is a good year for me and for Barca,” said the winger during his presentation at the club’s training ground.
Dembele’s decision to remain means Barca has options on the wings after the signing of Brazilian forward Raphinha from Leeds United for 58 million euros earlier in the week.
Raphinha has agreed to a five-year deal and his presentation will be on Friday.
Meanwhile, Barcelona and Sporting Club have reached an agreement on the loan of Francisco Trincao until 30 June 2023.
The deal includes the option to purchase the player when the loan period expires.
Trincao spent last season on loan at Wolves but the Premier League side opted against signing him permanently and he now gets another challenge back in Portugal.
(With Inputs From IANS)