Barcelona president Joan Laporta breaks silence on PSG's pursuit of Ousmane Dembele

Ousmane Dembele has been in transfer talks for some time now. With the FIFA World Cup over and football returning to club action, transfer activity has heightened again with the opening of the January transfer window.

Barcelona winger Dembele has been a hot topic of discussion, with PSG being among a host of clubs interested in him.

When Barcelona president Joan Laporta was asked about the forward's future at a news conference earlier today (5 January) in Barcelona, Laporta had this to say (via SPORT):

"It is not for sale. At the time of him, we will face his renewal, he is one of the most important players on the team. He is one of the mainstays. He always overflows when he plays. He scored a magnificent goal yesterday."

PSG looking at Dembele as a Neymar replacement?

There have been reports in the French media recently that PSG are willing to let go of Neymar as long as they can keep Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi in the long run.

With PSG ready to sell Neymar, they want to replace the Brazilian superstar with the French winger. Reports say that PSG are willing to pay €50 million for the player. That’s a far cry from what Mateu Alemany said Barcelona wanted for the forward, which is around €100m.

Dembele has been in great form for Xavi's Barcelona. Dembélé scored his eighth goal of the Xavi era against Intercity in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday, 4 January. Add in his 20 assists and the French winger is the player who has participated in the most goals under the new coach.

This season, the Frenchman has scored six goals and assisted seven more across all competitions.

Now with the Barcelona president himself coming out to quash the rumors regarding the forward, interesting days lie ahead.