After meeting with the player's camp during his recent visit to England, intermediaries, according to sources who spoke with 90min, expressed interest in Ousmane Dembele to Newcastle United.
The Barcelona winger, who has little over a year left on his current deal, attended Sunderland's Championship game against Sheffield United in March as a surprise guest of friend and Sunderland chairman Kyril Louis-Dreyfus.
Due to his high-profile move to Camp Nou in 2017, Dembele is one of Barcelona's most well-known players, but his time with the team has been marred by multiple injury setbacks.
In fact, the Frenchman has only appeared in 120 La Liga games for Barcelona in just over six complete seasons and has been out since late January due to a hamstring injury.
Although Dembele's trip to the North East is believed to have only been brief, 90min knows that the player's representatives and middlemen who work for Newcastle had a quick conversation.
Despite investing heavily in striker Alexander Isak, the PIF-owned Magpies have so far taken a relatively cautious approach to their transfer business. However, qualification for the Champions League for the upcoming season could hasten their plans to sign several top players this summer.
The 25-year-old would undoubtedly match that description and is drawn to the idea of playing in the Premier League; last summer, he was on the verge of joining Chelsea before deciding to extend his contract with Barcelona.
Dembele helped the club cut costs by accepting a pay cut in Catalonia in order to do so, but it's believed that his interest in a contract extension may be conditional on receiving a pay raise.
With ambitions to re-sign Lionel Messi from Paris Saint-Germain as well as captain of Manchester City Ilkay Gundogan and perhaps Bernardo Silva, that is currently unlikely to be on the table from Barcelona.
Despite the fact that the club leadership and manager Xavi think highly of him, Dembele may be one of those who lose out as Messi's improbable comeback approaches, according to sources at Barcelona who told 90min.
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