FC Barcelona star Ousmane Dembele agrees 5-year contract with PSG in shock transfer

In another big transfer window deal, Frenchman Ousmane Dembele is slated for a return to his homeland after having agreed a 5-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain, and looks set to leave Barcelona for the French capital in the coming weeks.

As per Fabrizio Romano, the French team have agreed to a contract running through to 2028 in verbal talks with Dembele. The transfer comes after 6 seasons in Spain for Dembele, in which he never quite delivered the quality that was expected from him, but a fresh start in his home country might be exactly what he needs to get his career back on track.

The 26-year-old had a 50 million euro release clause in his Barcelona contract, which unless triggered would rise to 100 million euros on August 1, forcing the Parisiens to act quickly to get their man. While Dembele was a big-money signing from Borussia Dortmund in 2018 in the Neymar transfer merry-go-round, injuries and health have kept Dembele from shining on the world stage.

Nonetheless, Dembele is a supremely talented player who combines pace and directness with ability on both feet, and would be an asset to PSG as they look to replenish their ranks following the departure of Lionel Messi and the forthcoming sale of Kylian Mbappe.

Dembele will join Neymar, the player he was expected to replace as a 20-year-old in the summer of 2017, as the pair look to win the Champions League for Paris. Neymar is reunited with Luis Enrique, under whom he had great success in Barcelona, and Dembele will be hoping for a transformative spell in a less taxing league.

Dembele returns to France as a World Cup-winner, having last played in Ligue 1 with Rennes in 2015-16, a breakout season in which he scored 12 goals. Dembele is set to become the latest addition to a PSG side which has bolstered its attack with the additions of two other La Liga stars, Marcos Asensio and Lee Kang-In.

The deal has been put in place mere weeks after Dembele reportedly turned down a move which would have seen him join Cristiano Ronaldo in Al-Nassr, with the Frenchman preferring to remain in Europe, with the chance to improve and realise his potential in France.

PSG continue to chase an elusive Champions League medal, but Enrique has reportedly demanded even more imports into the club in a bid to achieve that goal. The 2015 treble-winner with Barca has already acquired the services of Lee, Asensio, and Lucas Hernandez, but will be in the market for a striker after reportedly losing out in a bidding war to Manchester United for Rasmus Hojlund.

PSG are currently in Japan on their preseason tour, and will face Inter Milan in Tokyo on Tuesday in their next match.