Josep Maria Bartomeu rules out exits for Ousmane Dembele, Antoine Griezmann

Bartomeu rules out exits for Dembele, Griezmann

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has named Ousmane Dembele and Antoine Griezmann on a list of "non-transferable" players as the Catalan club prepare to overhaul their squad.

Dembele has struggled for form and fitness during his three seasons at Camp Nou, while Griezmann has failed to live up to expectations since arriving from Atletico Madrid for £107m last year.

Barca have already started making changes off the field on the back of a disastrous 2019-20 campaign, with head coach Quique Setien and sporting director Eric Abidal being axed this week.

Focus will now turn to replacing the dead wood in the squad, but Bartomeu has ruled out exits for Dembele, Griezmann and a few other players.

"It would be a cliche to just say Lionel Messi," he told Barca TV when asked to name which players are safe.

"Messi is the best player in history but there are other non-transferable ones. There are many young players. [Marc-Andre] ter Stegen, [Clement] Lenglet, [Frenkie] de Jong, [Nelson] Semedo, Dembele, Griezmann.

"They are players that we count on a lot and who have come to spend many years at Barca."

Dembele is reportedly one of four Barcelona players being targeted by Manchester United this summer, along with Ivan Rakitic, Arturo Vidal and Samuel Umtiti.

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