Barcelona fail to offload Dembele despite late moves from Premier League clubs

The January transfer window has come and gone and FC Barcelona has failed to find a solution in the Ousmane Dembele contract saga. Not only has the winger refused to sign a contract extension with the club, the Catalan giants were also unable to find a way to offload him and get his wages off their bill for the rest of the season.

Things could not have gone any worse for Barcelona when it comes to Dembele's case. They had wanted the Frenchman to sign a long-term extension with a pay cut in order to keep him and help manage their salary cap. However, they could not come to an agreement with the player, and opted to find a way to offload him instead.

According to Football España, Barcelona was in touch with French giants PSG as well as Tottenham Hotspur and Chelsea FC from the Premier League in the closing hours of deadline day. The Blues emerged as the front runners to sign Dembele at the last minute, but Barcelona's demands were not accepted due to the fact that the player will be available on a free transfer in the summer.

Needless to say, Barcelona want to generate some cash from the transfer, but other clubs know that they can get a better deal simply by waiting for just a little while longer.

Now, the 24-year-old is set to stay at the Camp Nou, and with no changes in his salary. This means that he will be free to sign a pre-contract agreement with other clubs, and Barcelona will have no choice but to let him leave once his contract expires.

Unfortunately, that also means the Blaugrana were not able to free up space in their over-inflated wage bill. This complicates the fact that have agreed to bring in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Arsenal. After being exiled by the Gunners, the Gabon striker joined Barcelona on a free transfer but they still have to worry about being able to register the player with La Liga.

It also remains to be seen if manager Xavi Hernandez will end up benching Dembele for the rest of the season.