Chelsea target and soon-to-be Barcelona employee once again Ousmane Dembélé has reportedly taken drastic action to secure a spot in Xavi's side for 2022/23 as his and Raphinha's Blues snubs have prompted new owner Todd Boehly to turn towards Neymar and Cristiano Ronaldo.
For such a long time, since the January transfer window, manager Thomas Tuchel was expected to get his eventual Dembélé transfer wish as the German manager was highly keen on reuniting with a player he made into a £126million prospect at Barca. football.london understood that the Blues just came short in signing the 25-year-old for a minimal fee in January with a summer move more likely to have come to fruition. However, club icon Xavi has seemingly worked his magic in turning the Frenchman's head once again.
This is because despite becoming a free agent on July 1, Dembele is expected to sign a new deal at the Camp Nou until 2024- this is of course in spite of Raphinha's dream move to Spain now looking a reality. It was expected that the futures of Dembele and Raphinha would be intertwined this summer- one comes in, one goes or role reversal. However, the economic lever that has seen £177m flood into Barcelona has freed up the money for Joan Laporta and co to inflict double misery on Chelsea's transfer plans.
