FC Barcelona signs Frenchman Dembele for record 105m Euros

Barcelona has signed its most expensive player to date – this man Ousmane Dembele.The 20-year-old signed the five year deal for an initial fee worth 105 million Euros.That could rise to 145m (euros) with add-ons, which would nearly double the club’s previous club-record transfer, the €80m paid to Liverpool for Luis Suarez in 2014.The deal is the second most expensive of all time, eclipsed only by Neymar’s recent 220m Euros move to Paris St-Germain.Dembele said: “It has always been my dream to be at Barcelona and now I’m here I’m very happy.“It is the best club in the world with the best players in the world.”Dembele’s last appearance for Dortmund came in the German Super Cup on 5 August. The Bundesliga side rejected a bid from Barca earlier in August, with the player then suspended for missing training.Dortmund said they rejected Barca’s approach because their offer “did not correspond to the extraordinary footballing and additional value of the player and the present economic situation of the European transfer market”.With regard to the agreed fee, Dortmund said in a statement the payment of add-ons “was agreed up to a maximum total amount of approximately 40% of the fixed transfer fee”.Barca have failed with three bids for Liverpool midfielder Philippe Coutinho, the most recent of which was £114m.Officially, the £75m signing of Luis Suarez from Liverpool in 2014 was their most expensive previous purchase.However, Bartomeu has said in the past that “the overall cost of the operation” to sign Neymar from Brazilian club Santos in 2013 was “over 100m euros (£92m)”, despite the transfer fee having been disclosed as £48.6m.