Ousmane Dembele trains with Barcelona after being told to leave - in pictures

Frenchman has yet to agree a new deal and is likely to leave the club

Ousmane Dembele and Frenkie de Jong during Barcelona's training session on Saturday, January 22, 2022. Reuters

Ousmane Dembele during Barcelona's training on Saturday. Reuters

Ousmane Dembele and Clement Lenglet during Barcelona's training. Reuters

Ousmane Dembele and Frenkie de Jong with teammates during training. Reuters

Ousmane Dembele and Frenkie de Jong train on Saturday. Reuters

Ousmane Dembele and Frenkie de Jong during training. Reuters

Ousmane Dembele and Clement Lenglet during training. Reuters

Ousmane Dembele takes part in a training session at the Joan Gamper training ground in Sant Joan Despi near Barcelona. AFP

Barcelona's French forward Ousmane Dembele during training on Saturday. AFP

Ousmane Dembele hit back at Barcelona by saying he "won't give in to blackmail" after the club's director of football Mateu Alemany said the winger must leave before the end of January. AFP

Barcelona's French forward Ousmane Dembele looks on during a training session at the Joan Gamper training ground in Sant Joan Despi near Barcelona, on January 22, 2022 on the eve of the Spanish League football match against Alaves. - Ousmane Dembele hit back at Barcelona on January 20, 2022 by saying he "won't give in to blackmail" after the club's director of football Mateu Alemany said the winger must leave before the end of January. (Photo by LLUIS GENE / AFP)

Ousmane Dembele trained with Barcelona on Saturday days after he was told by the club he should leave by the end of the January.

Dembele joined the La Liga giants from Borussia Dortmund in 2017 for €140 million but has yet to agree a new deal after a prolonged period of uncertainty. However, the Frenchman can leave for free when his contract expires in the summer.

It's a situation debt-ridden Barca are desperate to avoid and hope to get some returns on their investment in the current transfer window.

“With Ousmane and his agent we began conversations around July so it's been six months and a bit,” Barcelona director of football Mateu Alemany said earlier in the week.

“We've talked, we've talked, we've talked. Barca has made different offers. We've tried to find a way for the player to continue with us but these offers have been systematically rejected by his agents and today, January 20, eleven days before the last period of his contract ends, it seems obvious to us that the player does not want to continue at Barcelona and he is not committed to Barca's future project.

“In this scenario he and his agents have been informed that he must leave immediately because we want players committed to this project and therefore we hope that a transfer will take place before January 31.”

Barca will have to put recent struggles behind them when they face Alaves on Sunday as they continue to fight for a top four. Their hopes of winning a trophy this season were dealt two blows in a week after they followed up defeat by Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup with a shock loss to Athletic Bilbao on Thursday in the Copa del Rey.