Dembele causes huge problems for Barcelona, club suspects secret deal

FC Barcelona was unable to offload Ousmane Dembele during the recently concluded winter transfer window, and president Joan Laporta has accused the player of agreeing to a secret deal with another club.

Dembele was in manager Xavi Hernandez' plans for the future of the club, and the player initially expressed his desire to stay. However, as the months dragged on, the Frenchman refused to accept the Blaugrana's offers for a contract extension, forcing the club to find other solutions.

Towards the end of the January transfer window, it became clear that the Catalan giants wanted Dembele to find a new club before his contract expires in the summer. However, Laporta thinks it is surprising that the player refused to accept offers from other big European clubs and opted instead to endure an uncomfortable five months at the Camp Nou.

Basically, Barcelona made it clear that Xavi only wants to work with players who are fully committed and are in it for the long rebuilding project. Dembele is no longer in the manager's plans, and he has been warned that he may no longer be able to play for the remainder of his contract duration.

Dembele is expected to be ostracised at the Camp Nou, but it remains to be seen if Xavi will change his mind and bring him back to first team action instead of wasting his talents on the bench.

Laporta finds it intriguing that despite offers from the likes of Chelsea, Newcastle United, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain, no deal was reached. This is of course due in part to the 20 million euro fee that Barcelona was asking for, despite the fact that interested clubs have the option to wait just five more months to sign the player for free.

Laporta now thinks that Dembele is calm about the situation because he has already reached an agreement with another club for a summer move. "I am very surprised that he did not accept a proposal he had from an English club. He did not want to. It did not make sense, because it was not good for him or for the club. He would have allowed us to work with more tranquillity in the market," said Laporta, pointing out the fact that they desperately needed to take Dembele's salary off their wage bill.

"We think that Dembele already has a contract with another club; they have insinuated that to us. What we will do is defend the interests of the club," he added, as quoted by Marca. The saga is not yet over and Barcelona appear determined to cut ties with the player as soon as possible.