Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele has now agreed to join Paris Saint-Germain, after the French side activated his release clause.
The 26-year-old has agreed a five-year contract to end his stay at Barcelona, and this could be a potentially disastrous deal for Xavi.
All previous indications were that Dembele was happy at Barcelona, and perhaps the club were confident about tying him down to a new deal, but it seems that the Frenchman has changed his mind and will now depart.
Fabrizio Romano revealed the shock news, which will see PSG pay 50m (£43m) for the France international, and Barcelona will now make a huge loss on their initial £97m investment.
Disaster for Xavi
This deal will be met with fury at Barcelona, with the club also reportedly set to receive just half of the transfer fee as part of the terms in Dembele’s release clause.
After years of sticking by the player during his injury issues and poor form, they will now watch him depart for a low fee despite previously indicating that he wanted to stay.
Xavi in particular, will be angry that after backing Dembele during his low points and helping the winger to finally find his best form, he will lose an important player in this transfer window.
The Spaniard once described Dembele as “special,” and he now has a tough job on his hands as he attempts to replace him with a limited budget.
An option appears to be signing an attacking right-back, with Joao Cancelo linked, and using Raphinha on the right wing. Young starlet Abde Ezzalzouli could also now stay at the club to replace Dembele’s dribbling ability, with the 21-year-old previously looking close to joining Real Betis.
Whilst Barcelona do have a lot of internal solutions to replace him on the pitch, losing Dembele in a similar manner to the shock deal which saw Neymar decide to depart for Paris in 2017 will not be met with much happiness from the Blaugrana fans.