Xavi confirms Dembélé’s departure, the French set to sign 5-year deal at PSG

Barcelona manager Xavi has confirmed that French winger Ousmane Dembélé (26) is leaving the Catalan club to join Paris Saint-Germain.

Speaking in a press conference, the Barcelona manager confirmed reporting. According to multiple sources, including L’Équipe and Fabrizio Romano, PSG activated a €50m release clasue within the former Borussia Dortmund winger’s contract. Over the course of the next five days, Les Parisiens will negotiate with Barcelona in order to obtain more favourable payment terms. Regardless, Dembélé’s arrival at the Parc des Princes is just a matter of time, and the deal should be sorted by the end of the week.

Xavi has said that he is “hurt” by Dembélé’s decision to return to France. The Frenchman came through the ranks at Stade Rennais.

“It hurts me because we took care of him to make him happy here. But we can’t compete, he’s leaving,” said Xavi in a conference transcribed by Romano.

“Dembélé told us that he wants to leave and join PSG. We can’t compete. PSG’s bid is huge and out of the market. He told us he’d already spoken with Luis Enrique and Nasser Al-Khelaïfi and that there was no way of convincing him [to stay],” he added.

According to RMC Sport journalist Fabrice Hawkins, Dembélé will sign a five-year deal at PSG, tying him to the Ligue 1 champions until 2028.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle