Newcastle Willing To Pay $17M-A-Year To Barcelona's $131M Injury-Prone Star: Report

Newcastle United are reportedly willing to offer an annual salary of $17 million to FC Barcelona's injury-prone star Ousmane Dembele.

Dembele is already in talks with Newcastle over a possible summer move and the Magpies are planning to offer Dembele a five-year contract with improved wages, reported French publication Foot Mercato. However, International Business Times could not verify it independently.

After the sensational Saudi takeover, Newcastle are looking to make a few major signings and Dembele, who will be out of contract in the summer of 2022, is one of their targets. The Frenchman is open to a move from Barcelona to Newcastle, reported soccer website Goal.

It was earlier reported that following the departures of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann, Barcelona wanted to offer a new deal to Dembele. While the Catalans have offered the former Dortmund forward a new deal for two or three years, the star's agent is yet to get back to the Camp Nou club with a response.

Dembele, who is yet to play a game for Barcelona in the ongoing season, currently earns around $12million-a-year. He has been asked to accept a reduced salary because of his inconsistency and injury issues. In the last four seasons, the 24-year-old forward managed to bag only 81 appearances for the club in La Liga and overall, he played only 118 matches, across all competitions, scoring 30 goals and providing 21 assists.

Barcelona signed Dembele at a massive fee of $131 million from Dortmund in 2017. However, his stats over the last four campaigns have not justified the price the Catalans paid for him.

Barcelona had earlier accused Dembele of starting negotiations with Premier League clubs such as Manchester United and Liverpool behind their back.

Dembele's Barcelona teammate Clement Lenglet has also been linked with a move to Newcastle. It was previously reported that Newcastle had already approached Barcelona regarding Lenglet's availability during the January window.

Dembele was linked with Manchester United during the 2020 summer market. However, the France national rejected a deal on the deadline day, leaving Barcelona furious, who wanted to use the winger's transfer fee to sign their target Memphis Depay. The Dutch player joined the Catalan club the following summer on a free transfer from Lyon.