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…
