Barcelona chiefs in Germany to complete Ousmane Dembele move, will travel to Liverpool next

Barcelona have made further strides in their pursuit of Borussia Dortmund's Ousmane Dembele after the club sent a three-man delegation to Germany to wrap up the deal for the forward.

The Catalan giants have identified the France international as an ideal replacement for Neymar, who joined Paris Saint-Germain in a world-record €222m (£198m) deal earlier in the month, and are hopeful of wrapping up a deal sooner rather than later.

Dembele has expressed admiration for the La Liga outfit and admitted that every player dreams of playing for a club such as Barcelona. The striker even dropped a major hint that he could be on his way out of Dortmund after removing the club's name from his Twitter and Instagram bio.

According to Sport, Barcelona have sent a three-man delegation comprising of board member Javier Bordas, director of football Raul Sanllehi and club CEO Oscar Grau to Germany in the hope of completing the deal at the earliest.

It was earlier reported that Dortmund are seeking at least €100m for Dembele, who is said to have already agreed personal terms with the Spanish club. But the latest report claims that the Bundesliga club will demand at least €150m to begin negotiations with interested clubs.

Barcelona are expected to begin formal talks in the coming days but their first official bid is likely to be well below the current asking price. The French attacker, who has impressed since his arrival from Rennes last summer, is said to be keen to move to Spain.

The Catalan club's president recently confirmed that they will invest the money they earned via the Neymar deal, and are looking at multiple additions. Apart from Dembele, Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho is also high on the list of priorities and the Sport report claims that the three Barcelona delegates will travel to Liverpool, once they finish talks with the German club.

ESPN's Spanish channel ESPN Deportes, meanwhile, are reporting that the Reds and the Camp Nou outfit have reached an agreement in principle for a deal worth €120m including various performance based bonuses, while Coutinho has agreed a five-year deal as talks of his exit gathers pace.