There has been a huge buzz on the internet about Dembele leaving for PSG. This has come as a shock as Barcelona is preparing to face their bitter rivals Real Madrid in a friendly in the USA. Will a hole create by the departure of Dembele cause a huge problem for Barcelona?
What happened?
Well, the news broke out mainly on Twitter reporting that PSG has contacted Dembele for his services which the Frenchman has obviously accepted. Dembele is said to have agreed on terms and both these sides are working very closely to finalise the deal.
New PSG's manager is said to be very fond of Dembele and has asked for his services this comes rather as a shock because Dembele has recently rejected a huge offer from Saudi Arabia, perhaps the motive might not be the money but to continue playing in Europe.
The preceding are happening very fast, It is calculated that Dembele can undergo his medical right there in the United States, the reason for this level of proceedings might be because Dembele has a release clause of 50 million Euros as of 31st July 2023. If the deal is done before that then out of that 50 million Euros 25 million Euros will go to his agent and the other 25 million to Barcelona.
But after the 31st july it is a completely different story as Dembele's value will go up to 100 million. This might be the reason why PSG is acting so fast to secure Dembele at a minimum cost.
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Does this mean Dembele is being signed to replace Mbappe?
There is no doubt that Mbappe is leaving now or the club doesn't at all care about Mbappe. PSG wants to cut Mbapee off totally from their squad. This is a new-generation squad that is taken over by a very experienced coach in Luis Enrique. PSG might want to move forward rather than their current star forward Kylian Mbappe.
Dembele's profile quite matches Mbappe as both play on the wings, have excellent pace and are both brilliantly good in 1 vs 1 battle. So it might be highly possible that Dembele is being signed to replace Mbappe.
With the current saga going on against PSG and Mbappe it pretty much seems that Paris is keen on selling and the whole world knows where Mbappe might be heading to.
What does this mean for Barcelona?
Barcelona are losing a major talent no doubt, but also a very injury-prone player as he has been injured in the crucial parts of the season. His behaviour during the injuring crisis and his contract drama which nearly saw him being sold from the Barca board might impact to the emotionless departure if the deal with PSG went through.
With the financial mess Barcelona are going through it might be a fruitful deal as Barcelona are selling a player which will directly increase the revenue but position for Barcelona might much more favourable if the deal was slowed down a bit and was completed after 31st as Barcelona might cash in 100 million for Dembele.
Barcelona has a player who is also very similar to Dembele, Raphinha was bought in 2022 to help cover injury problems caused by their own Dembele. Quality-wise wise surely Dembele has an edge over Raphinha as Raphinha is no so good on 1 vs 1 as Dembele. With no injury Dembele would easily start over Raphinha.
But Raphinha had been more crucial for Barcelona last season than Dembele as Raphinha scored crucial goals when Dembele was sidelined with injuries during the end of the season. He did excellent work covering for Dembele.
So yes with players like Raphinha, Barcelona does have an advantage but it might affect the squad depth as Barcelona having just Raphinha for one position would be absolutely shallow if there are any injury to Raphinha.
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