Everyone is a loser in the messy saga of Ousmane Dembélé and Barcelona

“We have to stop this right now,” Xavi Hernández said. The day he took over as Barcelona manager Xavi had insisted that “in his right position, worked on well, Ousmane Dembélé could be the best in the world” and that extending the Frenchman’s contract was a “priority”. Sitting alongside him, a little giddy at the opening of a new era, was Joan Laporta. The Barça president, who had declared Dembélé “better than [Kylian] Mbappé” a week earlier, flashed a knowing smile. “Understood,” he said, and everybody laughed.

More than two months later, no progress has been made. Months of negotiations achieved nothing except mutual accusations. Dembélé could already talk to other clubs and although Xavi had wanted him to stay, there was no deal, the gap between offer and demand too great. Barcelona concluded he didn’t really want to stay and that it was time to cut their losses. Xavi handed him an ultimatum: “renew your contract with us or go now.” Or, you know, don’t.

It is 12 days since the Barcelona manager told Dembélé to leave and 11 since he left him out of the squad, warning that he would not play again. It is also 11 days since the director of football, Mateu Alemany, concluded that Dembélé didn’t want to stay and should go. “Before 31 January,” Alemany said.

That, you might have noticed, is on Monday but Dembélé is still at Barcelona, if not on the pitch, the central figure in both this window and the club’s immediate future. Unless talks with Paris Saint-Germain that started on Sunday reach a positive conclusion, deadline day will almost certainly end with Dembélé at the club.

The day after delivering his ultimatum, Xavi followed through on the threat, guided more by the club than his own inclinations, and left Dembélé out