Dembele will cost €10m less after his injury

Barcelona would definitely rather pay the €10m in question if it meant that Ousmane Dembele would not be injured and they could call on him for the next four months without any problem.

But unfortunately for them, they cannot. The French winger picked up the injury in a clash against Getafe on Saturday, and so he won’t be able to play a minimum of 50 games this season, which was one of the requirements of an add-on in the agreement with Dortmund over the transfer of the player.

This is according to ‘La Vanguardia’, who confirmed that it is impossible for Dembele to play 50 matches this season if he doesn’t feature until 2018. The newspaper recalled ‘Bild’ revealed that this was one of the variable clauses which would directly affect the price of the transfer of the 20-year-old Frenchman to Barcelona.

Unable to be met this year, the clause for the extra €10m may well be fulfilled next campaign, but it gives Barcelona some extra funds for this season and who knows if the Catalan club will decide to bring in some more players in the January window.

The add-on which Ernesto Valverde’s side will certainly have to pay to Dortmund is the one related to the Champions League. That is, Barcelona will have to pay €10m if they qualify for the elite European competition once in the next five years.

A piece of cake for Messi and co, who have not failed to qualify for a Champions League campaign since the 2003-04 season, in Ronaldinho’s first season at the Camp Nou. Those were different times…