Transfer Centre

Ousmane Dembele 'refused to sign new Barcelona deal'

By Matt Law, Football Editor | 07 October 2020

Ousmane Dembele saw a proposed loan move to Manchester United fall through after refusing to sign a new contract with Barcelona, according to a report.

Ousmane Dembele reportedly saw a proposed loan move to Manchester United fall through after refusing to sign a new contract with Barcelona.

The France international was strongly linked with a switch to Old Trafford in the latter stages of the transfer window, but he will now remain at Camp Nou until at least the start of 2021.

According to the Daily Mail, Barca had agreed to allow the World Cup winner to join United on loan, with the Catalan giants set to receive a 'substantial loan fee'.

However, the report claims that Ronald Koeman's side wanted the attacker to sign a contract extension until 2023, which would leave them in a strong position to negotiate when he returned to the club next summer.

Dembele allegedly refused to put pen to paper, though, meaning that a short-term move to Old Trafford fell through in the final stages of the window.

The former Borussia Dortmund attacker has only played 20 minutes of football across Barca's first three matches of the 2020-21 La Liga campaign.