Ousmane Dembele Could Leave Barcelona With Catalonia Independence Referendum Set to Take Place

Record Barcelona signing Ousmane Dembele could leave the club in the coming months - along with Lionel Messi - if the Catalonia region votes for independence in the upcoming referendum.

The Catalonia region is set to vote on an independence referendum on October 1st and if independence wins the ballot, big changes could be enforced for Barcelona. The possibility remains that the club would be forced out of La Liga - although it's likely that rules would be changed to allow their continued presence in the Spanish league, as is already the case with Andorran clubs. 

Diario Gol, though, report that top players could leave the club to continue their careers on the big stage in the unlikely event of the club being removed from the Spanish league structure. 

Amongst those top players would be newly signed Ousmane Dembele. The Frenchman joined the club from Dortmund because he wanted to prove himself at the highest level, against the best teams in the world - if Barcelona can no longer play in La Liga, then he would move to a more suitable club.

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Arguably the world's best, Lionel Messi, would be in a similar situation as Dembele. He wouldn't consider dropping in leagues to continue his career at the club that made him. He would call it a day at Barcelona and move on to another club.

There are a few other players that have the same feeling. Forward Luis Suarez would have no problem in leaving the club - Ivan Rakitic, Javier Mascherano, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and also new signing Paulinho would all consider leaving the Camp Nou.