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BARCELONA'S cheeky announcement that Ousmane Dembele had signed a new contract left fans in stitches. – and bemused.

Supporters laughed laugh at the video but also questioned howBarca can afford to tie him down until 2024 given their financial difficulties.


Dembele's new deal was strangely revealed via a video of the 25-year-old writing the year 2024 on a whiteboard.

The amateurish looking clip shows the winger walk up to a whiteboard with "Dembele 2022" written on it, rub out the two and write the number four.

Comically, fans mocked the video with one saying: "Barca really used a whiteboard to announce a new deal. Broke club."

Another reacted: "Barcelona are that poor their announcement video is a whiteboard."

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More laughed saying: "Budgets are a bit tight. Right, grab a pen then."

The cracks didn't stop as one suggested: "They have sacked their marketing guys, Pedri actually took the video."

Barcelona's lack of money is less of a joke however, the club is in a huge amount of financial trouble having accumulated debts of more than £1.2billion.

In January they were supposed to spend just £82million on wages, the actual bill was four times that.

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The club's chief Joan Laporta is trying to fix the situation attempting to negotiate new contracts with a number of players, reducing their salaries considerably, and also getting others off the wage-bill.

It is rumoured that Dembele was on £10m-a-year on his last deal but he is believed to have taken a pay cut.

Laporta has effectively mortgaged the club’s long-term future for short-term gain.

Barcelona announced last month they are looking to sell up to 25 per cent of their future TV income, bringing in around £425m – although they would have to pay back £14m per year.

In addition, Laporta wants to sell off 49.9 per cent of the club’s marketing arm, worth another £170m. All these remain just ideas at the moment.

The club are still active in the transfer market though and have spent £55m on bringing Raphinha to the club while they remain keen on Robert Lewandowski.

On the other hand, these financial challenges could be good news for Manchester United fans, as from a Barca financial perspective they may have no choice but to sell Frenkie de Jong.

The Catalan giants would save £17m in wages and pocket over £70m from the transfer price.

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