The mess surrounding the bonuses for summer signing Dembele from Borussia Dortmund continues to rear its ugly head in Barcelona. Despite the physical problems suffered by the French forward, this will not have a positive impact for the board when it comes to saving some money on his transfer.
According to reports in 'Der Spiegel' on Saturday, the La Liga leaders will still have to pay at least €30m of the €40m in bonuses agreed in his contract.
The only positive from the double injury to the Frenchman is that it will delay the payment of these bonuses. This is because Barcelona have to pay €20m when the player plays 100 games in a Barca shirt, at a rate of €5m every 25 games.
So far, Dembele has only appeared seven times for Ernesto Valverde's side which means it will be difficult for the player to reach 25 appearances in this current season due to his lengthy spells on the sideline.
However, there are some bonuses which will not be delayed from his injury. The first is a reported €10m if Barcelona qualify for the Champions League, which looks a foregone conclusion with the Cataln club nine points clear of second-placed Atletico in La Liga.
The last and arguably the most complicated is what 'Los Cules' will have to pay if the team wins the prestigious European competition. Allegedly, the board will have to pay €5m if they win the Champions League once and €10m if they manage to do it twice with Dembele in the team.
The 20-year-old has featured once for Barcelona in Europe, but whether there is a minimum requirement of appearances needed for the payment remains unclear. Given his injuries, Dembele has so far cost the team €500,000 per minute due to his lack of game time.