Barcelona Offer Crucial Update On $131M Star's Future Amid Manchester United, Chelsea Links

FC Barcelona have offered a crucial update on the future of Ousmane Dembele, who has been linked with various Premier League clubs, including Manchester United and Chelsea.

Dembele’s current Barcelona contract is due to expire at the end of the 2021-22 season. Since the France national has not signed an extension yet, he’ll be free to begin negotiations with foreign clubs from Jan. 1.

In a conversation with Barca TV, Barcelona director Mateu Alemany confirmed that the Catalans are in a “key moment” in Dembele’s contract renewal.

"We’ve been working on it for a long time, always with the desire of reaching an agreement because his idea is to stay and he gives us a lot of confidence. We are now in a key moment. We hope that everything will be cleared up before the end of the year," Alemany was quoted by SPORT, as saying in an interview with Barca TV.

Barcelona head coach Xavi Hernandez, who rates Dembele quite highly, recently said that he is “positive” about the Frenchman continuing at Camp Nou.

"I’m positive. He already knows the sports project and how important he is going to be. He is happy here. Now it depends on the club and his agent," Xavi said in a pre-match interview ahead of Barcelona’s 3-2 win over Elche.

It was earlier reported that Dembele had decided to leave Barcelona and could instead pick Chelsea and not Manchester United to reunite with Thomas Tuchel.

Dembele and Tuchel worked together at Borussia Dortmund for a season. Under Tuchel, The 24-year-old forward had an excellent campaign, where he netted 10 goals and 21 assists in 49 competitive appearances for Dortmund. That attracted Barcelona’s interest as the La Liga club went on to sign Dembele at $131 million in the summer of 2017.

It is also understood that Tuchel is an admirer of Dembele, who has had an unfortunate injury-hit run at Barcelona.

Earlier this season, Dembele missed 16 games due to various injuries. He returned to action last month. While Dembele is yet to score for Barcelona, the forward assisted a goal in Barcelona’s 3-2 win over Elche in La Liga at Camp Nou – his only contribution in a Barcelona goal in seven appearances this season.