How Chelsea could line up with Ousmane Dembele

Ousmane Dembele has been told by Barcelona that he must leave the club in the January transfer window.

The Frenchman has a contract at Camp Nou until the summer of 2022, and up until recently was locked in talks with the club over an extended deal.

However, Dembele's alleged wage demands were not matched by Barcelona which eventually led to an ultimatum - the player had to make a decision on his future before this week.

No contract was ultimately signed, and that led to Barcelona director Mateu Alemany releasing a statement announcing that Dembele had been told to leave.

Barca will attempt to sell Dembele for a nominal fee in January, with a number of Premier League clubs said to be interested.

According to the Sun, Chelsea are now leading the race for his signature and could look to bring him in before the window closes.

When asked on Friday about Chelsea's alleged interest in Dembele, manager Thomas Tuchel said:

"He is a very good player and he’s in his top level. I’m very fortunate to have trained him in my time at Dortmund.

"It was only one year, it should have been longer, but I needed to leave and he decided to leave.

"From there, we are not in the closest contact. We met here and there because of his duties for the French national team and, of course, I was in Paris so this was when they were preparing for national duties.

"It’s [France’s training base] very close to Paris so this is where we met and exchanged some messages."

Chelsea XI with Dembele

If Dembele were to arrive, he would join a growing list of attacking midfielders available to Tuchel.

Naturally, Chelsea's side will look different next season, but for the remainder of the campaign we can be fairly certain how the team would line up with Dembele.

Edouard Mendy will start in goal behind a first-choice back three of Cesar Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva and Antonio Rudiger.

Reece James will again feature at right wing-back when he returns from injury, and the same can be said for Ben Chilwell on the left.

Two of N'Golo Kante, Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic will start in central midfield.

Tuchel will continue with the underperforming Romelu Lukaku, and the German will be hoping Dembele can help to get more out of the big centre-forward.

Mason Mount could take up the final spot in the front three.