Ousmane Dembele has been officially confirmed as a Barcelona player in the next few hours, as confirmed by the FC Barcelona website. The 20-year-old French international, who excelled for Borussia Dortmund last season, has completed his sensational move after the Catalan giants paid a reported combined €150 million — making him the second most expensive player in football history behind Neymar.
Dembele is a young, dynamic, impactful forward that has rightfully attracted attention from major clubs this summer. Given the unexpected departure of Neymar to PSG, it was obvious that Barca’s need to strengthen their attack would result in an eventual attempt to lure the young Frenchman from Dortmund.
Dembele has gone through a major rollercoaster of emotions in recent weeks, which accelerated drastically in the last few days. Having refused to even train for Dortmund in an attempt to force his transfer was certainly a controversial move that could (and definitely should!) have been avoided if under-pressure Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu and his staff had been better at identifying realistic targets ahead of the current transfer window.
As we spoke in much more detail in Episode 27 of The Barcelona Podcast, Dembele is a hugely welcome addition despite his huge pricetag for the following reasons:
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