Barcelona announce Dembele as second most expensive signing ever
Barcelona have reached an agreement with Borussia Dortmund for the transfer of France international Ousmane Dembele, the Catalan club has announced via its official website.
The 20-year-old has agreed terms on a five-year contract, with a release clause of €400m set to deter any suitors down the line, with a view to replacing Neymar following the Brazilian’s world record move to PSG.
The youngster excelled in his brief stay in Dortmund and has gone onto become a regular for the French national side despite his tender years.
Having ranked second to the outgoing Neymar in terms of Champions League assists last season (6), Dembele has proven his credentials among Europe’s elite and will be expected to complete Barca’s front three alongside Messi and Suarez this season.
His pace and trickery will see the former Rennes winger serve as a strong replacement to the Brazilian, with both players leading the way in their respective divisions last season by way of dribbles completed.
With 12 Bundesliga assists, the quality of his end product in the final third will be a real asset to a side that was lacking quality in attack beyond the forward aforementioned pairing.
Barcelona have confirmed that Dembele will arrive at the club on Sunday before undergoing a medical on Monday morning, when the transfer will be officially completed. The fee has been revealed at €105m up front with further performance based add ons.
Glad this pathetic chapter is over. Dembele is a great footballer with a bright future but with very bad behaviors and character. How much Barcelona was involved in his shameful act, which he had already done with his old club Rennes, is not provable but one can guess that it was not entirely Dembélés decission alone to go on strike. Anyway, will see how much his talent brings him. In two years he will go on strike again, when PSG wants to buy him for 400 mio... ;-)
Disappointed by Dortmund they acted tough by saying the prices is fixed at €150m (or close to that number anyway) and they wouldn't negotiate about the sum... yea right.
@pfuu The price is close to 150 mio, 147 mio to be exact ! It is 105 mio + 42 mio boni payments, which are due as soon he has 10 games and 10 scorerpoints all together. The benefit of that is, that Dortmund only has to pay the certain share to Stade Rennes of the general transfer amount of 105 mio and not the aditional payments ...!47 mio for a guy, who costed 15 mio a year ago is a very good deal for Dortmund ...