Barcelona and Ousmane Dembele is complicated. Does he still have a future there?

Barcelona spent the final few hours of the January transfer window desperately trying to generate interest in a player president Joan Laporta has said is “better than Kylian Mbappe” and coach Xavi Hernandez insists can be “the best in the world in his position.” However, as Laporta worked until midnight at the club’s training ground offices with director of football Mateu Alemany, ordering in pizza, they could not find a new home for Ousmane Dembele.

Dembele, 24, is out of contract in the summer, meaning he’s able to join a new team for free. Two weeks ago, following a failure to reach an agreement over a new deal, Alemany told the winger to find a new club before Jan. 31 as Barca wanted to remove his salary from the wage bill to make room for new signings amid LaLiga’s tight salary cap controls. There was a late offer from a Premier League club, Laporta said, and tentative links with Paris Saint-Germain, but the France international never looked like leaving Camp Nou, even though that could mean he spends the rest of the season sitting in the stands, as Barca have threatened.

Dembele was once Barca’s most expensive signing, joining from Borussia Dortmund for an initial €105 million in 2017 to replace Neymar after the Brazilian moved to Paris Saint-Germain for a world record €222m. But, almost five years after he joined the club, Dembele remains an enigma. He’s made 129 appearances, scoring 31 goals, but has missed over 100 games through injury. Off the pitch, he’s kept himself to himself, with one source telling ESPN that several teammates were even surprised to find out he got married during the recent winter break in Spain.

There remain more questions than answers. How good can Dembele be? Will he play for Barcelona again? And what comes next in a career which has promised so much?

Additional reporting by Moises Llorens and Julien Laurens.

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