Newcastle Want To Sign Ousmane Dembele From Barcelona

Controversy has surrounded Ousmane Dembele since he left Rennes for Borussia Dortmund for a $36 million transfer fee. In Germany, he showed just why he was one of the most exciting youth prospects poised to become one of the greatest players in the world. After Barcelona’s dominance in Europe courtesy of Messi, Neymar, and Suarez, the French outfit Paris Saint-Germain broke the transfer record by signing Neymar for $263 million.

It caused a domino effect in the market and restructured the transfer cap, and Ousmane Dembele was right in the middle of this storm. His short-lived Dortmund career was in limbo as Barcelona wanted to cash in the $230 million to revamp the squad by signing him. As a young prospect, Dortmund wanted to keep him at all costs and cash in on him after two seasons, but Barcelona pushed a hard bargain.

Most of the football betting sites had odds on him joining Barcelona. Punters bet on which players will move from one team to another after analyzing their performances in that season. In the postseason, the transfer odds on players staying or leaving a team either permanently or temporarily (on a loan spell) change immensely.

Barcelona signed Dembele for $144.8 million, including add-ons based on performance and other riders. It made him one of the top four most expensive transfers in football history, and the price tag put a lot of weight on his shoulders to deliver.

However, he missed over 100 games in the last six seasons due to injury, particularly a recurring hamstring problem. Nonetheless, the positive to take from his career so far is that he can win games single-handedly. He has a blistering pace, accurate dribbling, and is good with both feet. He can carry the game when fit, as he has repeatedly proved.

Unfortunately for Barcelona, he ran down his contract without really achieving his potential, although he has featured in two consecutive World Cups. He won the 2018 World Cup in Russia with France and made it to the 2022 Qatar World Cup final, losing to Argentina.

Even before the Qatar World Cup, in the 2022 January transfer window, Barcelona’s new president Joan Laporta had crunch talks with Dembele’s management. The club was facing financial turmoil and being embroiled in debt, and after COVID, it incurred heavy losses, so it wanted to cut its wage bill.

The turnaround in spending allowed other teams that had always admired Ousmane Dembele to sign him. In the January 2022 transfer window, Dembele had six months left on his contract, allowing him to start talking with other clubs about a possible transfer. Among the teams included PSG, Chelsea, and Newcastle.

Newcastle were considered favorites because they had just been acquired by a Saudi-backed consortium, making them the richest football team in the world. They could definitely afford to pay his staggering wages, which were $254,000 a week. But Dembele demanded about $450,000 weekly to move to the English Premier League. His agent made the same demands at Barcelona, which was reluctant to pay such a hefty sum, especially after they released club legend Leo Messi who earned close to $600,000 a week.

When he finally ran down his contract with Barcelona, Newcastle came knocking again, but he opted to negotiate again instead of switching. Dembele and his agent eventually agreed with Barcelona on a new contract that made both parties happy. He currently earns $239,000 a week and $12.4 million a year on a 2-year contract expiring in July 2024 and can start speaking to interested clubs in January of the same year. He will reportedly earn a total of $40 million in total after including add-ons.

The contract also has a $100 million release clause; he will get $50 million if any team pays the amount before July 2024. Currently, he is having the best season of his career, featuring in almost every game despite a few knocks and injury scares.

With the form he is in, there is no doubt that he will find suitors, and Newcastle looks like the most likely destination. They currently sit in the top 5 in the English Premier League, having only invested close to $140 million in January 2022, the summer (August), and January 2023 windows. They signed Bruno Guimaraes for $40 million, broke their transfer record for Aleksandar Isak at $60 million, and signed Anthony Gordon from Everton for $45 million.

Newcastle’s new oil-money has elevated the club’s status and consequently its ambition. Most soccer analysts claim that the team is cautious in the transfer market while avoiding splashing money as Manchester United has done since 2015 without winning any trophies in that period. However, there is strong interest in Ousmane Dembele as the team intends to sign match winners.

At 25 years of age and showing signs of improving, for $100 million, Ousmane Dembele is considered a bargain on the transfer market. He is expected to demand a wage increase above $300,000, but he is worth every penny for such a talent. Rumors suggest he is on the verge of switching from Catalonia to Tyneside to feature for Newcastle next season.