Barcelona have agreed a deal to sign Borussia Dortmund forward Ousmane Dembele for a fee that could rise to 147m euros (£135.5m), making him the world’s second most expensive player.BBC reports
The deal is eclipsed only by Neymar’s recent £200m move to Paris St-Germain.
Barca will pay an initial 105m euros (£96.8m) for the France international, 20, who has agreed a five-year contract and will undergo a medical on Monday.
The 20-year-old France international forward is due to arrive in Barcelona on Sunday and will undergo a medical on Monday before signing a five-year contract. He has been given squad number 11.
A Barcelona statement read, “FC Barcelona and Borussia Dortmund have reached an agreement for the transfer of Ousmane Dembele for €105m (£97m) plus add-ons. The player will sign a five year contract and his buy out-clause is set at €400m.”
Dembele has not featured for Dortmund since the German Super Cup on 5 August. The German side rejected a bid from Barca for the forward earlier in August, with the player then suspended for missing training.
Dortmund said they rejected Barca’s approach because their offer “did not correspond to the extraordinary footballing and additional value of the player and the present economic situation of the European transfer market”.
With regard to the fee now agreed, Dortmund said in a statement that the payment of add-ons “was agreed up to a maximum total amount of approximately 40% of the fixed transfer fee”.
Last season, Dembele scored 10 goals and provided 21 assists as Dortmund finished third in the Bundesliga and won the German Cup, also reaching the Champions League quarter-finals.
He joined Dortmund from French side Rennes on a five-year deal in May 2016, having been voted Ligue 1 young player of the year for the 2015-16 season, when he scored 12 goals and made five assists.
Demeble made his senior France debut in 2016, the only goal in seven caps to date coming in a 3-2 friendly victory over England in June.
He was left out of the France squad for September’s World Cup qualifiers against the Netherlands and Luxembourg, with manager Didier Deschamps explaining on Thursday: “Ousmane hasn’t trained for a fortnight and he’s waiting to see if the transfer will go ahead or won’t go ahead.”
Dembele is the first attacking player Barca have bought since Neymar’s departure
