Paris Saint-Germain have expressed an interest in signing Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele, who has entered the final year of his contract.
Talks over a new deal for Dembele have dragged on for months but are expected to step up in a meeting next week, which was scheduled after the Frenchman confessed he is not in any rush to extend.
Barcelona have made it clear that they want Dembele to sign a new deal, but they are also prepared to sell him this summer if he continues to stall as club officials don't want to lose a player who cost almost £140m four years ago for free at the end of his deal.
However, according to Marca, there are now some fears that may happen as PSG have reached out to the winger to express an interest in signing him on a free transfer next summer.
It seems as though PSG want to try and encourage Dembele to reject a new contract and also refuse a move away this summer, allowing him to walk away for free and return to his homeland in 2022.
That plan is obviously not going to sit well with Barcelona, who want to know Dembele's decision as soon as possible so they can try and sell him before his value really starts to fall.
It's also not going to do much to help the frosty relationship between the two clubs, which stems from Neymar's world record move from Barcelona to PSG in 2017 and was not helped by the French side's late swoop to sign Georginio Wijnaldum on a free transfer this summer.
Barcelona thought they had tied up a deal for Wijnaldum, only for PSG to offer him nearly double the wages on offer at Camp Nou to lure him over to France instead.
The next instalment in the ongoing rivalry between the two sides seems to revolve around Dembele, who must now decide whether he wants to continue at Barcelona or wait 12 months to seal a move to PSG.
In the meantime, he must also focus on Euro 2020, where a big performance with tournament-favourites France could help bump up his transfer value.
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This article was originally published on 90min as PSG interested in Barcelona's Ousmane Dembele.
Source: www.90min.com