Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele has admitted his 'intentions' to stay at the club, despite intense Chelsea and Arsenal transfer rumours.
With only 11 days left of this transfer window to go, it has really sparked into action with Xavi and a few people on the Barcelona board opening the opportunities to clubs across Europe to secure a player who once had a value of £100million-plus.
"We've talked and talked, made various offers. We've tried to find a way but these offers have been systematically rejected by his agents... it seems obvious he does not want to continue at Barca and is not committed to Barca's future project," Barca director Mateu Almeny said via AFP reporter Tom Allnutt.
"In this scenario he and his agents have been informed that he must leave immediately because we want players committed to this project and therefore we hope a transfer will take place before Jan 31.
"On the football side, the result is we do not want to have players who are not committed to Barca. The club is obviously not the one that should decide this, it's the coach, and he has. But he has all our support. It seems to us absolutely the correct approach."
Since these comments were issued, Chelsea appeared to have stolen a march on the Gunners to reunite Thomas Tuchel with a player he knows well from his Borussia Dortmund days.
According to Shay Lugassi of the BarcaTimes, via Simon Phillips, the Blues are one of three clubs to have made a significant offer to Moussa Sissoko for his client, including a large signing on fee.
Other reports have indicated that Marina Granovskaia and co. are preparing a cheap £13m offer to test Barca's willingness to let Dembele go in the January transfer window.
The player - who contributed to an impressive 32 goals under Tuchel during their time together in Germany - appears to have challenged the notion that he will be shown the exit door anytime soon, with his statement explaining the situation from his perspective.
Part of his official statement read: “Don’t think I’m out of the project. Don’t speak of intentions I never had. I’ve a contract and I’m available for Xavi. I’m not gonna give up.
“There are contract talks ongoing. My agent is on it - I’m only focusing on the pitch”.
Meanwhile, the AFE (Spanish Players’ Union), as per The Mirror, have issued a warning to Barcelona over the ultimatum made to Dembele.
An AFE statement reads: "In relation to the situation experienced by the FC Barcelona footballer Ousmane Dembele, the Association of Spanish Footballers wants to express the following:
"The AFE considers that the signing of an employment contract as a professional soccer player obliges him to provide his services on behalf of the club following the instructions provided to him.
"On the other hand, the club is obliged to pay the agreed wages and allow the provision of services under the same conditions as the rest of his teammates, without there being any type of discrimination or pressure for the athlete to waive their labour rights.
"We understand that the renewal of a contract requires the agreement of the will of both parties. Said agreement of wills must be issued freely without there being external conditions that limit or restrict the freedom of contracting of the professional soccer player.
"It is true that a professional footballer does not have the right to be lined up or even called up for every match, but rather to be treated under the same conditions as his teammates and to be able to play those matches.
"But if this circumstance could be understood as pressure to bend their will, and public statements are also made acknowledging this type of pressure, we would be facing an illegal action by the company.
"AFE considers that not reaching an agreement to renew an employment contract does not imply a labour breach, so it cannot have any consequence for the provision of services.
"The non-alignment of a footballer for a period of time without any injury, illness or physical impediment, supposes a devaluation of his image and his sports cache that will negatively affect his future contracts.
"At AFE we want this situation to be resolved without the worker's rights being violated and we remind you that AFE is available to any footballer who may see their labour rights violated as a worker.”
With the 24-year-old not included in the Copa Del Rey squad for Athletic Bilbao on Thursday night, he now faces a difficult future, however, with his club seemingly having given up on contract negotiations.
