Barcelona Official Provides Update on Ousmane Dembele Future Amid Interest From Liverpool

Barcelona's General Manager for footballing affairs Pep Segura has denied Ousmane Dembele will leave the club in the near future, despite interest from Liverpool and reported difficulties in adapting to the Barça way of life.

The 21-year-old Frenchman was bought from Borussia Dortmund for £135.5m in August 2017, following Neymar's world record switch to Paris Saint-Germain, and has since struggled to acclimatise to his new surroundings.

FC Internazionale v FC Barcelona - UEFA Champions League Group B

He has six goals and two assists to his name across competitions in 2018/19, but has only completed 90 minutes on two occasions, and has had several disciplinary run-ins - including missed training sessions.


But speaking to Cadana SER, as quoted by ​Mundo Deportivo, Segura proclaimed: "There is no problem with Dembele. It is a normal situation of a young player who has a lot of talent and has reached a very big club like ​Barça, with great players and teammates. 

"He is very young and had never had to make the effort to adapt to this way of playing and we recognise that it is costing him. He also recognises it. What we do is work so that this adaptation is the best possible."

A former Academy Technical Manager at ​Liverpool, Segura had a few choice words for his former employers, and press, in the UK: "If you have information from the English press, ask the English press. 

"If you have information about Liverpool, ask him at Liverpool. As of today we have nothing (no offer) for ​Dembele and we have no desire to change the structure of the template."

Though he conceded he did indeed meet with the player's agents, he claimed this was a regular occurrence: "It is true that I had a meeting with Dembele's agents. But yesterday I had three meetings with three other representatives.

"My job is to meet with representatives, they are common things."

The GM has also admitted speaking to Arturo Vidal, of whom he has been publicly critical following some controversial social media activity from the Chilean.

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Segura declared: "It's normal that I talk to Arturo Vidal, I talk to a lot of players. Arturo did some things that we understood were not logical. He was wrong but since that day he has had an exemplary reaction."

"He has shown commitment and recognition to the team. He brings all his football knowledge and passion. Then he can do better or worse but whenever Arturo has left the field he has shown that he wanted to help and collaborate in whatever was needed. 

"This is what you want when you talk to a player. "


Source : 90min