Paris Saint Germain are discussing whether or not to activate Ousmane Dembele’s 50m euro release clause this summer as they look for more attacking firepower, having identified the Frenchman as a possible bargain option ahead of the new season.
The French champions have already lost Lionel Messi this summer and are braced to lose Kylian Mbappe, with the 24-year-old refusing to sign a new contract at the Parc des Princes and available for transfer, though he rejected the advances of Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal.
Now, they are thought to be keen on signing Dembele, who is down to the final 12 months of his contract at the Camp Nou and is reportedly available for a bargain 50m euros due to a loophole in his deal with Barcelona.
Of course, this trick has been played before. In 2017, they swooped to sign world-class Brazilian forward Neymar after triggering his 220m euro release clause, much to the anger of the Blaugrana who have since opted to put 500m to 1 billion euro release clauses into all new contracts in a bid to avoid this happening.
Now, they are looking to repeat it, with sources in France claiming that the French giants have ‘started contacts’ to activate the release clause in Dembele’s contract, with the possibility of doing a deal ‘being discussed.’
They will have to be quick though, as the clause reportedly runs out on July 31st, just two days from now. The subsequent month will see the clause skyrocket to a sum more in line with his importance to Xavi’s side.
