Dani Alves sends "ego" message to Ousmane Dembele after Barcelona exit broke down

Dani Alves has sent a message to Ousmane Dembele as he enters the final five months of his Barcelona contract having failed to secure a move away.

Last month, Barca were hit with a legal warning after a threat was made by sporting director Mateu Alemany that Dembele had been told that “he must leave the club as soon as possible.”

Blaugrana boss Xavi Hernandez had claimed he felt cheated by the Frenchman and the player was handed a final warning by the coach in what appeared to be a transfer ultimatum.

Dembele was subsequently excluded from the matchday squads for the Copa del Rey trip to Athletic Bilbao and La Liga trip to Alaves respectively, although officially he missed the latter due to illness.

Last week, the player’s agent Moussa Sissoko was caught on camera to be receiving a phone call from PSG sporting director Leonardo – further fuelling speculation of a move to Paris, which never materalised.

Dembele is out of contract at the Camp Nou on 30 June and the club had publicly stated their ambition to secure a transfer fee for him in the January window.

Contract talks between the Frenchman and the club had entirely broken down and while a turnaround in the relationship is now feasible, he looks certain to be in the final months of his deal.

Barca paid £105million – in a deal rising to a potential £135m – to sign Dembele from Borussia Dortmund in 2017 in a transfer that has become symbolic of the club’s reckless transfer policy.

However, they now are facing the increasing certainty of losing the player as a free agent this summer – with Dembele free to agree a pre-contract with other clubs since 1 January.

Despite this situation, Alves – a January arrival at the Camp Nou having left the club in 2016 – has