Chelsea target Ousmane Dembélé is understood to be close to signing a new contract with Barcelona until 2024 as Todd Boehly and Thomas Tuchel are now forced to look elsewhere amid a double transfer blow, including the Raphinha situation.
For such a long time, is was projected that the futures of Dembele and Raphinha would be intertwined with each other - if one was to arrive or leave the Camp Nou, the other's future would be affected as a result. This scenario has given new owner Boehly the hope that he could at least sign one of the aforementioned pair but in a cruel twist of fate, the first economic lever being activated by Barca has seemingly ruined the current World Champions in two senses.
The first being that Raphinha and his agent Deco have now had the ability to work around Barca's tight financial restraints to formulate a dream move to Spain for the Leeds winger, who reportedly always had Xavi's side as his ideal destination for 2022/23.
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However, this cash injection that has been secured by the Catalan side has allowed Joan Laporta room to negotiate a deal for current free agent Dembele, who has been touted for a while as an option that manager Tuchel would have loved to reunite with following their time together at Borussia Dortmund.
Despite not discussing a deadline for this new contract renewal for the Frenchman, progression between his agent and Laporta has led to a situation where a compromise looks to have been made on both sides. The 25-year-old has had to reduce his wage demands to allow a new deal to come to fruition.
This is according to various Spanish journalists, including Luis Rojo of Marca, who has reported that: "Barcelona and Ousmane Dembélé are close to reaching an agreement on a contract renewal until 2024." So, where do Chelsea go next in this situation?
Having already agreed to the principles of a deal for Manchester City winger Raheem Sterling, who is expected to arrive next week at the earliest, football.london understands that other new names have now been mentioned with regard to Chelsea, with Burnley's Maxwel Cornet and Newcastle winger Allan Saint-Maximin two players who the Blues have been credited with an interest in.
Regardless of whether anyone is brought in alongside Sterling, Dembele's adamancy from the start to stay in La Liga has meant that Chelsea are about to suffer triple transfer misery at the hands of Barcelona- a club who could be stealing all of Dembele, Raphinha and Jules Kounde away from the west Londoners' reach.
Chelsea fans- who would you go for next with both of Ousmane Dembélé and Raphinha seemingly out of reach? Leave your thoughts down below in the comments section!
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