'Blackmail' and 'rumors': Has Ousmane Dembélé's disappointing time at Barcelona come to a messy end?

By Matias Grez, CNN

Updated 1207 GMT (2007 HKT) January 21, 2022

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(CNN)Ousmane Dembélé's arrival at Barcelona in 2017 was supposed to signal a new era for the club.

In the wake of Neymar's shock departure to Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona spent more than half of the world record fee it received on the fresh-faced teenager who was setting the Bundesliga on fire.Barça reportedly paid a then club record fee of €105 million ($119M) for Dembélé back in 2017, with the deal potentially rising to €140 million ($158.5M), and the Frenchman is reported to be on wages of around €20 million ($22.5M) per year.But instead of filling Neymar's sizable shoes, Dembélé went on to