Ousmane Dembele's summer contract extension at Barcelona includes an attainable €50million (£43.7m) release clause, half of which would be payable to the player and not the club.
Dembele has enjoyed a remarkable turnaround of fortunes at the Camp Nou this year. Xavi had previously claimed he felt cheated by the Frenchman and the player was handed a final warning by the coach in April in what appeared to be a transfer ultimatum. Barca were subsequently hit with a legal warning the same day after a threat was made by sporting director Mateu Alemany that the player has been told that "he must leave the club as soon as possible" as his contract ticked into its final months.
In the second half of last season, Barca fans had appeared to turn on the player as they vented their frustration at the Frenchman in his first home appearance after the January transfer window closed. However, the forward has enjoyed a resurgence in form with Xavi hailing him as "an example" to his teammates.
Dembele had appeared certain to leave the club as a free agent this summer but eventually put pen to paper on a new deal. Details in L'Equipe have now emerged stating that he has the attainable €50m release clause, which will be active this coming summer only.
Additionally, it is also claimed that Dembele's new contract saw him secure a wage increase – despite cutbacks in salaries for existing squad members. This was said to be off-balanced by him agreeing not to attain a signing-on fee for the extension, which ensured Barca made a financial saving for the economic window.
The player has also given an interview to RMC Sport in France, where he is on international duty, in which he confirmed: "I remember a meeting between Xavi and me in the month of December. I told him that I was going to sign my contract."
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Dembele also said he regrets the lifestyle choices of his first years at Barca, which saw him criticised for a lack of discipline: "I was young like everyone else," he said. "But I managed to get out of this situation. However, not everything is as people imagined. From 2017 to 2021 I have wasted my time enormously. I've wasted five years of my life."
Speaking of his injury problems over the years and improved run of games and fitness in the past season, Dembele added: "I had a lot of hamstring injuries. If you don't work, you'll stagnate. You're going to hurt yourself, if you don't get stronger, they told me. With Koeman and Xavi, it got better. Since then, I haven't had any injuries.
"Fingers crossed, I will keep working. I'm fine, I feel good at Barcelona, I have the trust of the whole team, the whole club and I'm happy. Now everyone talks about football, it's better."
