Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele is nearing the end of his contract at the Spanish club. Manager Xavi Hernandez has urged the club to offer the player a new contract.
The Frenchman has been plagued with injuries since his move from Borussia Dortmund. Still, he has enjoyed a new lease of life since the arrival of Xavi.
The technically gifted winger has a contract with Barcelona until the 30th of June, and the two parties have not been able to agree on an extension yet.
Xavi believes that Dembele is a key player for the club. It will be interesting to see whether the Spanish La Liga giants can convince the French international to sign a new contract with them in the next few days.
The player has been linked with a move to Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, but there are no concrete offers on the table for him.
Meanwhile, Barcelona are lining up potential alternatives to the Frenchman if he refuses to sign a new contract with them.
According to the latest reports, the Leeds United winger Raphinha and the Argentine international Angel Di Maria are thought to be potential candidates who could replace Dembele at Camp Nou next summer.
Dembele managed to showcase his tremendous potential with a consistent run of games under Xavi’s management last season, and there is no doubt that he could develop into a world-class winger.
The Frenchman is yet to enter his peak as a player, and Barcelona must do everything in their power to hold on to him.
The player’s agent has previously revealed that Dembele will make a concrete decision regarding his future in due course of time. It’ll be interesting to see how the situation unfolds over the next few days.
Signing the likes of Raphinha to replace Dembele would be a much more expensive operation than offering the Frenchman a new contract at the club.
Barcelona are going through a bit of an economic crisis right now, and keeping the Frenchman is certainly the better option for them.
