Ousmane Dembele may have taken another step closer to securing his move to Barcelona after the Frenchman was suspended by Borussia Dortmund.
The Bundesliga giants have suspended the 20-year-old 'until further notice', just three days after rejecting a bid from Barca for France international.
Barca have been hoping to convince Dortmund to part with one of their most prized assets following the world record breaking sale of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain, last week, but have so far come up short with their efforts to land Dembele.
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While Dortmund claim that Dembele moving to the Camp Nou is 'unlikely', the French youngster is doing his best to engineer the move and, with Barca willing to part with upwards of £100 million for his signature, BVB will be hard pressed to retain the former Rennes winger.
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Dembele has been suspended for going AWOL from Dortmund training, the club have confirmed. Images: PA
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Dortmund's Director of Football Michael Zorc said of the situation, "Our focus now is on preparation for the Bundesliga opening match in Wolfsburg [on 19 August]. Dembele, of course, has the opportunity to complete an individual training session outside the group."
However, with Dembele recently going AWOL from team training, deciding instead to remain in Paris in order to force a move to the Camp Nou through, with BVB manager Peter Bosz confirming that Dembele was not in training, during a press conference on Thursday.
"I talked to Dembele yesterday. He told me he was in Paris with his friends. He did not say anything about a transfer.
"Ousmane Dembele was not in training today. We do not know why. We tried to reach him but we did not.
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"There was no sign yesterday that Dembele would not be here today. We hope nothing terrible has happened."
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We get the impression this saga could roll on all the way until deadline day.
(H/T BBC Sport)
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: Football, Barcelona, Ousmane Dembele, Borussia Dortmund