17,000 at Nou Camp for unveiling of £ 135m man

Barcelona are ready to keep sp e n d i n g af t e r pa r a d i n g £ 135.5million new b oy Ousmane Dembele.

Around 17,000 fans attended yesterday’s unveiling ceremony at the Nou Camp for the 20 - year- old France winger, who sealed his switch from Borussia Dortmund.

The fee agreed between the t wo clubs – an initial £ 96.8m with add- ons potentially taking it to £ 135.5m – makes the player the second most expensive i n histor y. It i s eclipsed only by Neymar’s £ 200.6million move from Barca to Paris St Germain earlier this month.

The signing of Dembele may not be the last Barcelona transfer activity before Thursday’s deadline, according to technical director Robert Fernandez.

He said: “We hope to present another player before the end of the month.

“My intention is for one player t o come or mayb e t wo, i f possible. I won’t go into names bu t I a d mi tt h a t t h e c l u b i s working on the possibilit y of signing new players.”

The Catalan giants continue to be linked heavily with Live rp o o l p l ay make rP h i l i p p e Coutinho despite having three bids for the Brazilian rejected, th e most re c e n t r e p o r t e d l y worth up to £ 118m.

Dembele was filmed by the cl ub arrivi ng at Barcelona’s training ground and undergoing his medical. He then formally signed his five- year contract before being presented at the Nou Camp.

D e mb el e sa i d : “I am ve r y happy to be here in Barcelo - na. I have come here to win titles and am looking forward to integrating into the team.”

Dembele has enjoyed a rapi dr i s e t o prominence s i nce breaking into the Rennes team in S e p t e mb e r 2 0 1 5 . He was named Ligue 1 young player of the year in 2016 and moved to Dortmund for £ 13m just 12 months ago.

Meanwhi l e , Ar se n a l wer e re p o r t e d ye st e r d ay to h ave accepted a bid of £ 35m from Lo n d o n ri v a l s Ch e l s e a fo r winger Alex Oxl ade - Chamberlain, who will be out of contract at the end of this season.

The right- sided attacker i s said to have rejected an ofer of a new deal from the Gunners.

The 24- year- old is currently with the England squad but played for Arsenal in their 4- 0 weekend defeat by Liverpool, wh o h ave al s o b e e n l i n k e d with him and are expected to at least match Chelsea’s bid.