Barcelona chief tries to persuade forward to sign a long-term deal

Football club Barcelona president Joan Laporta is the latest to try and persuade Ousmane Dembele to commit his long-term future to the La Liga club. The Frenchman's current deal expires next June, and has thus far failed to reach an agreement over a new deal.

The Catalan club have been in talks with Dembele and his representatives for a number of months, but have made little progress in terms of reaching an accord over a new deal. The France international will be allowed to talk to interested clubs outside Spain when the winter transfer window opens in January.

The charm offensive to persuade Dembele to sign a new deal started with the sacked Ronald Koeman, and it continued following the arrival of Xavi Hernandez as the new head coach. Barcelona's director of football Matheu Alemany recently revealed that the club were optimistic about convincing the former Borussia Dortmund winger to sign a new deal.

Laporta has now revealed that the process is going slower than they would like, but he told Dembele that he can cement his legacy at the Camp Nou if he decides to stay beyond the summer of 2022. The La Liga club's president is certain that Dembele can reach his true potential if he desires, after struggling to match the form he showed in Germany after moving to the Catalunya capital in 2017.

"It is being a slower process than desired on our part. We are working on it," Laporta said, as quoted on Cope. "Dembelé is a very important player, he can give much more to Barça than he has given, if he continues with us he can become a benchmark player."

The 24-year-old winger will not be short of suitors should he decide to leave the Catalan giants, with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Bayern Munich and Juventus waiting in the wings to sign him. Dembele has been offered a lucrative pay package to run down his contract and leave Barcelona on a free by a number of his suitors.