Barça coach Xavi will decide if Dembele plays for club again

Barcelona president Joan Laporta said "the coach will decide" whether Ousmane Dembele will play for the club again, while also saying that the renewal offer made to the France forward expired on Dec. 20.

"If they wanted to negotiate with us (again) and we were interested, the conditions would be different," Laporta assured.

He added: "Dembele's a player that didn't want to renew. And a player that we almost certainly won't have because there must be another club with an agreement with him, so it's difficult for him to play (for Barça), because the coach is rebuilding the team and knows who he can count on for this season and the next.

"And Dembele and his agent have not wanted to accept the renewal offer which we made to them. The club's posture is that we have a player with a contract and if he's available, the coach will decide. Xavi is just as surprised as us that he's not accepted the renewal offer. And I understand that Xavi will have that in mind.

"He already knows we thought he should renew. But he hasn't. I hope there's a solution in the best possible interests of Barça which damages the player as little as possible, too. But the circumstances are what they are. The reality is we didn't understand his stance. We respect it but we don't get it."

Still on Dembele, Laporta added that the renewal offer "expired on Dec. 20" and that if he wants to renew now the conditions would be different.

"He's a great player but he's not been able to show his talent at Barça. We haven't enjoyed him as we hoped. We were excited that with a contract renewal we would enjoy the best Dembele"