Ousmane Dembélé set to choose Barcelona; but Chelsea could turn head of Allan Saint-Maximin

After weeks and weeks of speculation, the Ousmane Dembélé situation remains entirely unchanged on its surface.

The 25-year-old’s contract is still set to officially expire in a week, which would then truly make him a free agent. It’s also still being seen as a sort of deadline by which point he would have to make a decision about his future, even if that’s not how free agency works.

In any case, still no one seems to know really how he might choose eventually. Reports in Spain (via Metro) run the gamut, though it sounds like Dembélé’s still holding out hope that Barca would up their offer. His relationship with head coach Xavi still seems quite good, but evidently the Blaugrana have stood firm on the financial side of things.

On the other hand, Chelsea’s interest also hasn’t really advanced beyond the rumor mill, with some reporting that we’ve still yet to formalize anything in that regard. June 30 may not be a hard deadline, but Dembélé surely isn’t going to wait around forever.

Still, still, still.

Speaking of steal, Allan Saint-Maximin has popped into the Chelsea rumor mill, which is fantastic since he’s a fun player.

Unfortunately, it’s just a bit from the Mail, who claim that this 25-year-old’s head could very well be turned by the likes of Chelsea, who could offer him substantially higher wages than even newly infinitely rich Newcastle could. That’s a bit surprising, but it’s got something to do with wage structures or financial fair play or the need to fill publishing quotas.

ASM signed a six-year contract two years ago, so it’s understandable that his wages would not be commensurate with their current financial muscle, but apparently Newcastle are weighing up the pros and cons of offering a new contract versus selling at £40m. They’d be quite silly to choose the latter, but should they be that silly, we’d be silly not to try. It is Silly Season, after all