Ousmane Dembele hits back at Barcelona: I won’t give in to blackmail

Ousmane Dembele, in a social media post on Thursday, slammed Barcelona after the club announced that it wants the French winger to leave before the end of January. The 24-year-old is yet to renew his contract, which expires in June, with the Catalan giants. 

Barcelona director Mateu Alemany said,” During the six, seven months that we have been negotiating and talking, Barça has made several offers for Ousmane to continue with us, all of which have been rejected by his agents,”

Hitting back at the club, Dembele said he would not give into blackmail. 

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“From today it finishes. From today I am going to reply honestly, without giving in to any kind of blackmail,” he wrote on Instagram. 

“I forbid anyone from thinking I am not committed to the sporting project. I forbid anyone from attributing intentions to me that I have never had.”

Dembele joined Barcelona after a year with Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund in 2017 in a deal worth €140 million. 

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Many Barcelona fans questioned the expensive deal that used up a good chunk of the 220 million euros (then $262 million) that Barcelona received from Paris Saint-Germain for Neymar just weeks before.

The young forward was injured for long stretches of his first two seasons and really established himself as a regular starter only last season. He has 31 goals in 129 appearances for Barcelona.

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“As you all know, there are negotiations. I leave my agent in charge of those, it’s his area. My area is the ball, simply to play football and share moments of happiness with my teammates and all the fans,” Dembele further wrote. 

Dembele did not included in Barcelona’s squad travelling to Bilbao on Thursday.