Barcelona end Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang talks, eye Ousmane Dembele exit

The 2022 January transfer window has reached its final day (find out when it closes here), and there’s plenty of gossip swirling about who’s moving where. Transfer Talk brings you all the latest buzz on rumours, comings and goings and, of course, done deals!

– Liverpool sign Porto’s Luis Diaz for €45m
– Spurs’ Ndombele rejoins Lyon on loan
– Man City land River striker Alvarez for €17m
– Brentford sign Eriksen after heart op

TOP STORY: Barca near Auba deal, Dembele exit next?

Earlier in the day, it looked as though Barcelona’s Transfer Deadline Day would end with a whimper.

Their negotiations with Arsenal over a loan deal for striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had reportedly broken down, with the Catalan club said to be able to pay only a small portion of the player’s £250,000-a-week salary unless they were able to move on Ousmane Dembele. That’s all changed.

ESPN’s James Olley reports that Barca and the Gunners have agreed a deal that will see Aubameyang move to the Camp Nou on a free transfer, bringing an end to his four-year career in north London. This arrangement shifts the 32-year-old’s wages off Arsenal’s books, and potentially gives the Blaugrana the opportunity to negotiate a wage cut — as has been suggested by other outlets — for the Gabon international.

Aubameyang is in Catalonia and expected to undergo a medical on Monday night.

But wait, if Aubameyang’s arrival was dependent on Dembele’s departure, as was reported earlier on Monday, then how is the France international still with Barcelona? Speaking at an event for local outlet Mundo Deportivo on Monday, Barcelona president Joan Laporta said that his club was in negotiations with an unnamed English outfit over a deal for Dembele.

Earlier in the day, Sky Sports reported that Chelsea had made a late enquiry to sign Dembele, although his wage demands proved to be a stumbling block in a deal that Sky described as “not impossible but very difficult” with the deadline closing in. If the Blues are unable to get…