Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele, in an interview with Spanish publication Mundo Deportivo, has opened up about how close he came to leaving the club during the summer transfer window, as well as the club’s UEFA Champions League hopes this season.
The Frenchman has refuted claims that he was looking to leave Catalunya at the end of the previous season and that he had an agreement with another club – he was rumored to be close to both Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea at different points in the transfer window – declaring that his intention was always to continue at his current club.
His contract came to an end in July, and it was only after lengthy negotiations that the club and the player agreed to sign fresh terms on a two-year deal.
“I always told Xavi [Hernandez] that I wanted to continue here if [it] was delayed it was due to negotiations, but I always said that I wanted to continue at Barça, and in the end, we are all happy,”
Dembele remarked.
Speaking about the rumored pre-agreement with another club, the 25-year-old said:
“There was none of that, I only spoke with Barça. And I told my representative that only Barca.”
Dembele is preparing for Barcelona’s 2022/23 UEFA Champions League campaign, the club drawn into the “group of death” alongside Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, and Viktoria Plzen.
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However, the winger believes that his team, as always, is one of the favorites to win the competition but will need a fast start to avoid the fate that they suffered last season when they dropped down to the Europa League.
“Barça is always one of the favorites, along with other greats, like Madrid or Liverpool. We have to start very strong, not like last year when we lost to Bayern 0-3 and then to Benfica 3-0. You have to start at the top and win,”
he said.
Barcelona have begun the season strongly, with Dembele one of the major players in their fast start. Xavi Hernandez’s side drew its opening domestic fixture 0-0 against Rayo Vallecano but has beaten Real Sociedad, Real Valladolid, and Sevilla, with an aggregate scoreline of 11-1, since.
