Barcelona to beat Chelsea to Malian prospect Dembele

Barcelona to beat Chelsea to Malian prospect Dembele

Barcelona are suddenly favourites to land Malian teen Seydou Dembele.

The highly sought-after 18-year-old attacking midfielde was on the verge of joining Chelsea. But he may have now changed his mind and ultimately committed Barcelona.

Africafoot reports that the current prospect of the Jean Marc Guillou Academy in Bamako will join Bar7a and "the player is expected to arrive in Spain in the coming days to sign his contract with the Catalan club".

Chelsea were prepared to pay 1.5 million euros for Demb9l9, who was also on the radar of Red Bull Salzburg (a team associated with the JMG Academy) and Fenerbah7e.

Demb9l9 stood out at the Under-17 World Cup in Qatar with the Mali Under-17 team: 2 goals and 4 assists in 5 games .