Chelsea, Arsenal and Tottenham target Ousmane Dembele has reportedly decided to join Paris-Saint Germain from Barcelona.
Dembele, 24, has been searching for a new club in the last week or so as the well known Barca fall out had all but ended his association with Xavi's side.
His refusal to sign a new deal on their terms reportedly forced Xavi and others on the Barcelona board to call time on his playing career in Spain.
Despite an initial attempt to stay put this month, Dembele's agent Moussa Sissoko has been working around the clock to find his client a new club and in spite of vast Premier League interest, it seems as though Ligue 1 is the winger's next journey.
This is according to French outlet Footmercato who have reported that Leonardo has reached a 'verbal agreement' with the player's entourage.
The report goes on to add that the Parisians are trying hard to find an agreement with Barca before this transfer window closes.
Otherwise, and unless the situation turns around, the winger will arrive next summer in Paris on a free deal but for the former Borussia Dortmund man, he would prefer a move now so he isn't sat out of action for the rest of the season.
On the contrary, Fabrizio Romano has provided a less optimistic update on this deal at hand: "Ousmane Dembélé deal. Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain have been in contact today over potential swap deal but no solution has been found.
"Clubs will try again in the coming hours but Dembélé deal on Deadline Day seems still complicated.
"Man Utd, not even interested."
Whatever does unfold in the next 24 hours regarding this deal remains to be seen but this now rules the London trio out of making late moves for the once £100million man alongside the likes of Newcastle and Man United.
Out of the three London clubs, Chelsea were the most interested due to Thomas Tuchel's relationship with one of his favourite players that he has worked with in the past.
The Blues were understood to be monitoring Dembele's situation at Barcelona given Tuchel's fondness of the 24-year-old. However, unless a late opportunity arises and a member of the Chelsea attack departs, the France international will not be arriving in west London this month.
And with none of Christian Pulisic and co seeking exits until the summer at the earliest, the European Champions couldn't make solid efforts to recruit another attacker to add to an already bloated roster.
"He’s a very good player, and I am very fortunate to have trained him in my time at Dortmund,” Tuchel said on Dembele. “It was only one year, it should have been longer, but I needed to leave and he decided to leave.
"We are not in close contact, we have met here and there because of his duties for the French national team when I was in Paris. We exchanged some messages. I have absolutely no idea why he is in this situation, I don’t know the details, so it’s better not to talk."
For Arsenal, their interest has been there for a long while but a midfielder was their main aim and Spurs did make a late approach but decided to focus on Juventus' Dejan Kulusevski instead.
