Barcelona complete €105m Dembele signing from Borussia Dortmund

The 20-year-old sealed his dream move to the Catalan side after the clubs reached an agreement, making him the second most expensive player in history.

Barcelona have completed the signing of Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund in a deal potentially worth €147 million.

Goal revealed on thursday that the 20-years-old attacker was on his way to Nou Camp on a five-year contract after the sides reached an agreement.

Barca have confirmed a €105m initial fee for Dembele, with Dortmund to receive a further €42m in bonuses. The forward's release clause has been set at €400m.

The €222m received from Paris Saint-Germain for Neymar sparked the Liga side's pursuit of Dembele and Liverpool's Philippe Coutinho in the close season, but they saw bids for each rejected.

While Liverpool have stood firm on their insistence that Coutinho is not for sale, Dortmund have surrendered to Dembele's wishes and allowed him to leave.

The France international had made clear his desire to join Ernesto Valverde's side by skipping training, resulting in him being indefinitely suspended by Dortmund .

Dembele spent just one season in Germany after joining from Rennes for €15m in July 2016, scoring 10 goals in 50 games in all competitions for BVB.

He will arrive in Spain over the weekend to undergo a medical and sign his contract ahead of his official unveiling at Camp Nou on Monday.

He is the fifth signing Barca have made in the current window, joining Marlon, Nelson Semedo, Paulinho and Gerard Deulofeu in moving to Camp Nou.

Marquinhos says PSG players are waiting on Mbappe confirmation

 

 

The Brazilian defender is ready for the young star to make his move from Monaco to Paris

Marquinhos said he and his Paris Saint-Germain team-mates are waiting for Monaco star Kylian Mbappe to join the Ligue 1 giants.

After signing Neymar in a world record 222m euro deal from Barcelona, PSG have turned their attention to 18-year-old sensation Mbappe, who is tipped to move to the French capital.
Mbappe scored 26 goals in all competitions last season as Monaco dethroned PSG in Ligue 1 and reached the Champions League semi-finals.

Asked about Mbappe following PSG's 3-0 victory over Saint-Etienne on Friday, Brazilian defender Marquinhos said: "We are waiting for confirmation. We do not know yet. We look at things on the Internet. We're still waiting.

"The PSG project is very ambitious. To be ambitious, you have to have big players, big stars.
"He's a player who made the difference with Monaco, if he comes here, he's going to bring us a lot."
While Mbappe is expected to arrive, PSG forward Lucas Moura is reportedly set to move in the opposite direction as part of the deal.

"He's really a friend. He has talent. I hope he stays with us," Marquinhos added.

"With the goals we have, we're going to need everybody."

Barcelona Agree £135.5m Deal For Dortmund Forward

Ousmane Dembele: Barcelona Agree £135.5m Deal For Dortmund Forward

Dembele scored 10 goals and provided 21 assists in all competitions for Dortmund last season

Barcelona have agreed a deal to sign Borussia Dortmund forward Ousmane Dembele for a fee that could rise to 147m euros (£135.5m), making him the world's second most expensive player. 

Barca will pay an initial 105m euros (£96.8m) for the France international, 20, who has agreed a five-year contract and will undergo a medical on Monday.

The deal is eclipsed only by Neymar's recent 200m pounds to Paris St.German.
Barca revealed that his deal will contain a release clause of 400m euros.

Dembele has not featured for Dortmund since the German super cup on 5 August. The German side rejected a bid from Barca for the forward earlier in August, with the player then suspended for missing training

Dortmund said they rejected Barca's approach because their offer "did not correspond to the extraordinary footballing and additional value of the player and the present economic situation of the European transfer market".

With regard to the fee now agreed, Dortmund said in a statement that the payment of add-ons "was agreed up to a maximum total amount of approximately 40% of the fixed transfer fee".

Barca have failed with three bids for Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho, with their most recent offer of £114m turned down last Friday.

Luis Suarez's transfer from Liverpool in 2014 is officially their most expensive purchase, at £75m.
However, Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu has previously that said "the overall cost of the operation" to sign Neymar from Brazilian club Santos in 2013 was "over 100m euros (£92m)", despite the transfer fee having been disclosed as £48.6m.

Dembele exploits attract Barca's attention

Dembele's record for Dortmund in the Bundesliga last season

Last season, Dembele scored 10 goals and provided 21 assists as Dortmund finished third in the Bundesliga and won the German Cup also reaching the Champions League quarter-finals.

He joined Dortmund from French side Rennes on a five-year deal in May 2016, having been voted Ligue 1 young player of the year for the 2015-16 season, when he scored 12 goals and made five assists.

Demeble made his senior France debut in 2016, the only goal in seven caps to date coming in a 3-2 friendly victory over England in June.

He was left out of the France squad for September's World Cup qualifiers against the Netherlands and Luxembourg, with manager Didier Deschamps explaining on Thursday: "Ousmane hasn't trained for a fortnight and he's waiting to see if the transfer will go ahead or won't go ahead."

How does Dembele compare?

Most attempted dribbles in Europe's top-five leagues last season

The second biggest transfer ever 

Past 10 world record transfer fees

 2017 - Neymar £200m (Barcelona to Paris St-Germain)

2017 - Ousmane Dembele £135.5m (Dortmund to Barcelona, subject to completion)

2016 - Paul Pogba £89m (Juventus to Manchester United)

2013 - Gareth Bale £85m (Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid)

2009 - Cristiano Ronaldo £80m (Manchester United to Real Madrid)

Analysis

Of course the transfer fee is astonishing but former team-mates and former coaches will tell you that Ousmane Dembele has the potential to be a Ballon d'Or winner.

They mention his extraordinary acceleration on the ball, they rave about how two-footed he is (his right foot is supposed to be stronger than his left but it's very close) and they talk about his extraordinary skills, touch and close control.

His former manager at Rennes, Rolland Courbis, actually claims that Dembele could have joined Barcelona last summer but turned them down. He says they offered more money than Borussia Dortmund but the French youngster chose to go to Germany.

His change of heart now may have a lot to do with Neymar's departure offering more guaranteed game time in a World Cup year. Filling the Brazilian's boots will come with a lot of pressure but Dembele has the quality to make that spot his own.