Why Dembele and Depay deals fell apart on final day of transfer window
Three transfers fell through when Dembele decided he wanted to stay at Barça
The transfer window shut on Oct. 5 and France Football have now revealed how Ousmane Dembele's move to Manchester United and Memphis Depay's transfer to Barcelona broke down. The report claims is was Dembele who brought everything to a halt, which ended, temporarily at least, Depay's hopes of a move to Camp Nou and Islam Slimani's switch to Lyon to replace the Dutch international.
All three deals were alive going into the final day of the transfer window. There was a moment when it looked like they would be completed, but they didn't come to fruition in the end.
Barça and United had agreed a deal for Dembele to move to the Premier League. That would have created space on Barça's salary bill to sign Depay. An agreement was also in place between Barça and Lyon for that deal to happen, while Lyon would then move for Leicester City's Slimani.
On Monday, Oct. 5, at 19h, with a few hours left in the window, the documents to finalise the deals were sent to the players to the players to sign. The key was Dembele. His signature was the only one in doubt. By 21h, Dembele informed his people that he had no intention of leaving Barcelona. Something similar happened in 2019, when he refused to sign for PSG to facilitate the return of Neymar.
The decision annoyed, above all, Barça coach Ronald Koeman, who was desperate to bring in Depay. Dembele's rejection of a move away from Camp Nou meant Depay and Slimani also remained at their respective clubs and must now wait until January for their futures to be resolved.
