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Xavi: 'I don't think Dembele's presence would have changed anything'

FC Barcelona (h/t BarcaUniversal @ Twitter)

's presence would have changed anything. He's an important player, but we have taken that decision as a club. We all agree," 

The Frenchman did not travel with the rest of the squad for the cup match because he refuses to extend his contract.

 were rather poor upfront against the Basques, recording just 7 shots, and only 3 of them on target. 

However, it's also true that our biggest problems were defence-related, and Ousmane would've barely helped with that.

'His agent acted with Ousmane's full consent': Romero's take on Dembele's latest message

"Out of all this text, one thing is clear, Moussa [the agent] has been acting with Ousmane's full consent," reputable journalist Gerard Romero has said in regards to 

"The act he put up in front of Xavi that he wants to stay, and then his representative spilling the beans... 

"What a circus! Not for a minute more. Out."

 clash. Then, he was publicly told by the director of football, Mateu Alemany, to 

, claiming that Barca are blackmailing him and that he fully trusts his agent with the negotiations. 

Dembele breaks silence as Barca tell him to leave club immediately

 has sent a message of his own on his Instagram.

"Hello, everyone. For 4 years, I have only read things said about me without taking the trouble to justify myself. For 4 years, the gossip around me has been frequent. 

"For 4 years, people have been speaking on my behalf, they lied shamefully with the sole purpose of harming me.  

"For 4 years, I made the choice never to answer, never to justify myself. "Was it a mistake? Certainly. As of today, this is over. 

"From today, I will answer sincerely and without giving in to any blackmail. I am 24 years old and like any man, I have faults, imperfections. 

"I have gone through difficult moments, injuries, I have been affected by COVID. Without any training, the coach called on me and I always answered with my presence... without batting an eye. 

"Answering with my presence is what I have always done because this is my PASSION.  

"I am fully aware of my luck of being able to dedicate myself to the best job in the world. 

"Besides, my message is clear. I forbid everyone to pretend that I am not involved in the sports project. 

"I forbid anyone to assign me intentions that I never had. I forbid anyone to speak in my place, in the place of my agent in whom I have complete confidence.  

"I have always given my all for my teammates as well as for all the supporters... and I will not stop now. 

"I am not someone who cheats and, even more so, not someone who gives in to blackmail. 

"Surely love is just a version of blackmail. 

"As you know, there are negotiations. I let my agent take care of it, it is his job. My job is football, simply playing, sharing moments of joy with my teammates, with our supporters. 

"Above all, let's focus on the essentials — WINNING. 

"Take care of yourselves and your loved ones."

Earlier, Alemany revealed that Barca assumed that Dembele refused to continue at the club after months of negotiations. He urged the player to leave Camp Nou before the end of the month.

Ousmane has not been called up for the match against 

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spot on!!!! 👏🏽Salud hermano🍻🇲🇽 couldn't have said it better myself. He absolutely has EVERY right (as every profession player does) to renew or not. Like Barcelona, EVERY professional club also HAS the right to not play a player, for whatever reason it is

Samuel Salgado

CHRISTOPHER OBETOH, you should be able to argue or make counter arguments without resorting to insults; it's in poor form, brother. No opinion is "rubbish". You don't know Dembele any more than I do. So let's keep it classy.

You have written a lot, but I only read emotions, bro.Tell me exactly how Barcelona have mistreated Dembele?

- That we agreed to pay $120M for him?
- That the club believed he could replace Neymar?
- That we supported him throughout all his injuries?
- That he was sent to the best doctors and surgeons in another continent for his treatment and recuperation?
- That the club defended him when every culér was screaming he should be sold because he was so fragile and injury prone?
- That the club got him a dietician to help him with his nutrition?
- That Xavi called him an important part of his project from the beginning of his tenure?

For which one of these has Barça been unfair to him? 

- Is it the same complaint he sent in his IG post which his agent also complained about, that Xavi asked him to get dressed and get on the pitch without a warm up? 🤔  Inaki Willaims was called up during the match today without warming up because an Atletico Bilbao player was injured. Dembele isn't the first or the one thousandth player that has been called up without warming up. This is football; it doesn't always work out as planned. A real team player will share that concern directly with his manager, not send his agent to go accuse his manager publicly. How many private conversations did Xavi say he had with him, telling him how important he is in his project?

Finally, if the issue is the financial details of the contract or any other aspect of the contract, then both parties have every right to walk away if they can't reach an agreement. Dembele has every right not to agree or to leave. But Barça, as his employer, also have a right not to play him, if he insists on staying through the winter transfer window.

Nothing unfair here, bro. They aren't withholding his salary. They are telling him their stand. If football is what is most important to him, he can sign with any of the teams lining up to employ him and continue playing where he is wanted and where his contractual demands will be fully met.

As it stands, he has become a distraction in the locker room. The club is right to freeze him out. Good luck to him. Every single person in the club also have families. We all do. This has NOTHING to do with his family. Let's not get emotional. Give me facts and figures. If you have none, cheers, brother.

Oh, and by the way, not sure what you mean when you say I speak as if football is a voluntary sport; um...yea, football is a VERY voluntary sport. Being black, white or brown is not voluntary.

Good day, sir. 👋🏾🖐🏽🖐🏻

Soccerates

👍to the; should be able to hold a counter argument...without using the word rubbish...it is in bad form...not classy.

rosario rosario

Ok my apologies Admin. I guess I was annoyed with your comments and went overboard. Anyway I can never deny the fact that barca stood by his side when he was injured and that is the best thing to do but after all that what changed? The club was on a rampage to offload players from the squad even Suarez wasn't exempted. So in that light they feel they own dembele and he will accept what ever price they decide to pay him besides Messi has left also. If they really want to be right with him they would have had a bargain and it be clear that they tried and dembele wasn't ready. But no it was for  the fact that Messi left the club who are you not succumb to our demands. I don't get it. The context of his write up about coming into the pitch without a warm up was not to spite the club but to make the club understand that he was ready to do whatever it takes to win with the club. This issue was brought up cos it turned into a big deal after the agent raise it up. I have always heard how ungrateful Dembele was but  have you ever heard him speak against the club b4? He is ungrateful bcos the club spent $200M to get him and after treating him when he was injured he wants to leave. What happened to the negotiations that broke down. If he was injured during that negotiations would he have had a say? what if he really wanted to stay, is this how he would have been treated or valued?  Every player will consider these things when signing a contract and dembele is not exempted. That write up on Instagram was the 1st time he spoke up and it was obvious how the hatred was for him from the fans and the Spainish media even b4 now. so what ever it is now will only be a reminder to him that he was badly hated. You can call him whatever you like but I know this for sure Dembele loves football but injuries wouldn't let him play. Dembele loved barca and left Dortmund for barca but was hated by the fans. Dembele will always fight to play football whether anyone likes it or not. I love fc barcelona but the madness of pride from the side of the club has to stop. Pride killed the negotiations and that is the most annoying part. I hope the club changes b4 it's too late. I rest my case.

CHRISTOPHER OBETOH

@CHRISTOPHER OBETOH, I appreciate your apology, brother. Nothing but love and respect here, sir. 

I appreciate the points you've just raised. But what you see as pride by FC Barcelona is just as unfair as the criticisms you say Dembele receives. Not a single player has simply accepted or been forced to accept whatever the club presented them. This is why Pedri's agreement also went through a few negotiations, as is Gavi's right now, and has been the case with every player before that.

Bartomeu created a fiscally irresponsible precedence, throwing money and long term contracts at every player, which is precisely why the club is now in this difficult position with bloated wages, and long contracts to which we are beholden. Laporta and Barça cannot afford to make the same mistake; never mind the financial difficulties we've been facing not being able to register players without others lowering wages.

As for Dembele loving Barca so much that he forced his way out of Dortmund. They said the same thing at Dortmund when he forced his way out of Rennes to join Dortmund. It's become a pattern.

The club has been HIGHLY supportive of Dembele. The problem the club have is that Dembele says one thing to Xavi, then his agent says another to the club, then the same agent says yet another in the press, or they just go silent for weeks. This has been going on since July. If the club wasn't interested, they wouldn't have been preparing proposals and counter proposals to meet him halfway these past few months.

The bottom line now is with all the noise, I think the relationship has been damaged. Like any marriage, only the two people involved know the truth of the issue. A divorce isn't a crime, and may be the best at this point.

I love his athleticism and his "promise". But you have to ask yourself, why does controversy always follow Demebele from club to club? At Rennes, his departure ended in a court fight. At Dortmund, it was a nasty public standoff between he and the club. Now, at Barça, the same story.

At some point if there's an issue everywhere you go, in France, then Germany, and now Spain, you should probably look in the mirror.

Just thoughts.

But neither you nor I will impact anything that happens in Dembele's life in these posts. And I have already typed too much on behalf of Barca for someone who isn't getting paid a dime for my labors.

Let's both give it a rest. I hope both parties get what's best for them respectively.

Be well, brother.

Much love.

@BORBOR SMART, I am respectful of everyone, but you need to mind your language. You don't need to like a word I write, and your like or dislike of my comment is entirely irrelevant. You can't seem to make an argument on its own merit, which is why you need the crutch of reducing every issue to name calling or racist propaganda. I know what the Spanish football labor union wrote; they are supposed to. If you read it all, they also clearly stated the club has a right not to feature a player in games as featuring is a merit accorded by the club; it is their right as well. There are serious racial issues and injustices in the world; a player and a club haggling over how many millions to pay or receive and how many years to play is NOT one of them. This is nothing new. From Rennes to Dortmund to Barcelona, there is ALWAYS a legal issue, an agent issue, a club, press, and player issue with Dembele. I guess he just so happens to be the one player France, Germany, and Spain have all colluded to make the international racist scape goat. Come on.

Dembele is a contracted employee. FC Barcelona is his contracted employer. They ABSOLUTELY can decide not to play him for the rest of his contract. When Koeman came out and said Suarez was not in his plans, did Suarez cry racism? Did he not have an active contract? Did Koeman play him? No. Instead what did Suarez do? He found another club because it is about football for him. Koeman said Puig was not in his plans and he left the kid rotting on the bench for months, which may have in fact ruined his career, because he chose to stay and fight, rather than leave. Who cried racism? How many games did Puig enter for three wasted minutes at the end of regulation? How many weeks and months did he sit there atrophied from lack of playing time?

This is football. Players sit out games and clubs freeze out players. Didn't this same Dembele sit out games and refuse to show up to play when he wanted to force his move to Barça at Dortmund? Did he not have a contract he wanted to break? We cheered him on then. Now, as his employers, Barça also have a right to freeze him out. If he really wants to play at other clubs because he feels maltreated at Barça, they have opened the door for him like was done for Suarez, Rakitic, Coutinho, Digne, Malcolm, and even the lifeblood of Barça, Lionel 🐐 Messi. He can leave, and find another club and become the star he believes he is. Let's call a spade a spade and stop with the sentiments.

It's fine if you don't like it. That's a completely different issue. But stop with the name calling and the racist propaganda. Dembele and Barça issues are rich people problems. Never conflate the two.

✌️ ✌🏼✌🏾

BORBOR SMART, I think you don't understand how does contract work, each part has its right, Dembele has the right not to sign a new contract and Barcelona has the right not to play him but pay his salary till the end of his contract. At this moment it is a matter of choice that Dembele has to make either he join one of the team looking for his service or wait until the season end, how can a coach play someone who is not committed for the team's future and uses the club to get high pay.

Jovinary Maximillian

I don't understand all but what I want to say is! Demeble is needed for Christ sake

Mr Osita

For those saying Barça should capitulate to Dembele and that he was needed for this game, or that the club is being unfair- I couldn't disagree more. Dembele has a right not to renew. Barça have a right not to play him. He can't keep using the club to showcase himself and flirt with other clubs, while we do nothing knowing he plans to leave for free after we investment well over $200M on him, including his transfer fee, salary, treatments and other expenses. By the way, he staged a sit out at Dortmund to force his move to Barça. So why can't a club also refuse to play him if he clearly isn't interested in the project? This isn't Messi we are talking about; this is Ousmane Dembele. He isn't the savior of FC Barcelona. What message do you send to the other players if he is indulged? How much more pampering can the club possibly offer him? I completely stand with the club on this.

As far as I'm concerned, unless he changes his tune, Dembele is a former Barça player. We are trying to figure out how to play without Messi; believe me, Dembele is not an issue. He was brought in to fill the gap Neymar left; and in five years, he has yet to live up to a fifth of what Neymar offered.

Come on culérs, stop the madness. FC Barcelona will not be defined by Dembele. He didn't define Rennes. He didn't define Dortmund. And he sure as heck isn't going to define Barça.

We move on.

The point is rn to learn HOW TO PLAY WITHOUT HIM

Patrik Dobrádi

Let Dembele Go now this January before its too late they re better replacement outside the likes of Anthony In Ajax there far better than Osman

Sahid Swaib

Neymar Jnr

dude give these kids some time. they are playing good

Shivam Rawat

was Barca playing better than this before Messi left?

Olushola Emma

Yes all day long .
Won the Copa .
Finished Third  under incompetent Koeman , beat everyone except the Madrids , done okay in the UCL .
Mate we can’t beat the rubbish in La Liga now  for heavens sake .

barcelonafan1622151469303423862

Messi can’t come back dis team is nothing mid table team n u think messi we come back to mid table team no way

Demilee

Messi needs to come back to put barca back together. We are falling apart. Messi was holding everything all ths years. Fact

monal christian

Am with barcelona on this one tho  dembele is an ingrate but if he was on the pitch today with no issues he would have helped in attack at least we also could have a speedy winger disturbing their defence as they have nico Williams disturbing alba too...... Don't get me wrong am not in support of dembele in fact he does not deserve to wear a barcelona shirt anymore

Player		G
Artem Dovbyk	Girona	20
Alexander Sørloth	Villarreal	19
Jude Bellingham	Real Madrid	19
Robert Lewandowski	Barcelona	17
Antoine Griezmann	Atletico Madrid	16

Xavi: 'I don't think Dembele's presence would have changed anything'

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