Dortmund boss blasts Barcelona
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BORUSSIA Dortmund’s CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke has accused Barcelona of manipulating Ousmane Dembele in a bid to force the German club to sell the want-away winger to the Spanish giant.
Dortmund suspended Dembele indefinitely a week ago when the 20-year-old boycotted training after the German club rejected an initial bid from Barcelona.
Watzke yesterday accused the Catalans of influencing the France international to force Borussia’s hand.
Barcelona wants to sign Dembele and Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho to replace Neymar, who left for Paris Saint-Germain, but Dembele has a contract until 2021.
Reports claim the Germans want 130 million euros (US$152 million) for the player they paid Rennes 15 million euros for last year.
Dortmund has made it clear it will only sell Dembele if its price is met and Watzke is less than impressed with the role Barcelona is playing in the transfer saga.
“You have to talk about the role of the ‘glorious’ club Barcelona,” Watzke told Sky. “We met with their representatives, which commanded the respect, which I still had back then a few weeks ago, of such a big and serious club.
“In doing so, we found out that our ideas (over the price) are very far apart and therefore such a big gap could not be crossed.
“Then completely out of the blue, he didn’t come to training. Do you honestly believe that a 20-year-old, without the benevolence of a new club, says ‘I’m not coming to training’. Ousmane wouldn’t have done that for any other club — we know that now.”
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