the cross of renewals at Barça

The next of the generation baptized in the media by Barça as Dream Teen is Gavi, who, like his predecessors, also feels comfortable in the Barça ecosystem and the journey he can have in this team, and wants to seal the longing renewal. It’s been days since the club started the first talks with the Andalusian midfielder, who ends his contract in 2023 and has landed in the first team to stay. Ronald Araujo’s turn will also come.

On the other hand, a renewal that Barça has wanted to tackle for a long time and that will be in line is that of Ousmane Dembélé. The advisers of the French footballer, who has the condition of being the second most expensive signing in the history of the club (105 million more variables) only behind Philippe Coutinho, are in no hurry to renew and play his game, knowing that in from January 1 they are free to negotiate with any other club. Barça do not want to reach this date without having resolved Dembélé’s future, but, as club sources have explained to ARA, Barça managers are confident that their renewal will not be an easy task.

Differences and similarities with the Ilaix case

The footballer, who is virtually ruled out for Sunday’s classic, is training with the group with the aim of recovering from a femoral biceps tendon injury in his right knee that he suffered with France during the European Championship. Of which he had to be operated on again in Finland by Dr. Lasse Lempainen. Unlike the case of Ilaix Moriba, in which the club adopted from the outset a position of strength separating the player from the discipline of the first team, Dembélé has been gradually returning to training.

In fact, Ronald Koeman has always argued that when he recovers cash in the front his team’s performance will improve. And, in this sense, the contribution of the Frenchman would be a boost in the position of end in which, for now, the Dutch coach has converted Sergiño Dest to have an imbalance in the band.

What is assimilated to the case of Moriba is that the representatives of Dembélé are aware that the footballer, no matter how little he proves that he has left behind his umpteenth injury (as a Barça player, has been out for more than a dozen of occasions), remains a market player. Basically, because if he doesn’t renew, the club that acquires his services will be able to take him without paying a transfer, which would fatten the pockets of his agents with a succulent bonus to move the footballer as a team, which, at the same time, would get a better salary with respect to what Barça is willing to pay him in the current economic context of the club. These are the main ingredients of a game that is at stake and the French international winger has already been tempted in the past by clubs like Juventus, in addition to having a good poster in the Premier League.

In a newspaper interview Sport last week, Joan Laporta shared good words for Dembélé, defining him as “a key piece for the team to improve”. “If the injuries respect him, he will be a very important reinforcement for this season. We are trying to renew him,” said the Barça president, who added that the player “wants to stay”. Laporta’s public statements did not foresee a punishment similar to that of Ilaix in the case of the Frenchman, but before the duel against Valencia on Sunday Ronald Koeman explained in a press conference that if any measure of force is applied while not renewing it an issue that “depends on the club.” And the coach, as he demonstrated with Luis Suárez in his day, has no problem putting this institutional criterion ahead of sporting needs.