International Players

From wunderkind to reject: How Dembele lost his way at Barcelona

By Adedamola Samuel

Ousmane Dembele moved to FC Barcelona in 2017 with the hopes of replacing Neymar in the MSN trio. However, his time at Camp Nou has been a letdown with numerous injury layoffs. What happened to the wunderkind from Borussia Dortmund.

Ousmane Dembele moved to FC Barcelona in 2017 with the hopes of replacing Neymar in the MSN trio. However, his time at Camp Nou has been a letdown with numerous injury layoffs. What happened to the wunderkind from Borussia Dortmund.

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As the 2016 season got underway, a new star at Borussia Dortmund's Signal Iduna Park emerged. Ousmane Dembele had the world at his feet. At the end of the season, everyone was certain he would have a great future in the game. FC Barcelona bought into this future with a €105m deal to take him to Camp Nou. He was recruited to replace Neymar and it seemed a perfect fit. 

But things were to change fast in an injury-riddled first season. Dembele played only 23 games in all competitions, with a return of 4 goals. It was a sign of things to come. In 4 seasons at Barcelona, he has played 118 times in all competitions and scored 30 goals. This is in contrast to 78 games and 22 goals in just 2 seasons at Rennes and Dortmund. A Barcelona average of 29.5 games and 7.5 goals per season is a poor return for a player of his potential and transfer fee. But why has Dembele faltered at Barcelona?

The architect of the French International's problems at Barcelona has been injuries and possibly poor management. Wretched ankle and muscle injuries mean that Dembele is more on the doctor's table than on the pitch. The height of it was during the 2019-20 season when he played just 9 games all season. During that season, after a lengthy layoff, he lasted just 24 minutes in his comeback game against Borussia Dortmund before sustaining another injury. 

It has been rumoured that the style of training at Barcelona does not suit him and other players like Marc-Andre ter Stergen. Especially training sessions under the ousted Quique Setien. The training is said to contain just 20% sprints while in real game situations, players tend to do 90% sprints for the duration of the game. This is particularly bad news for a speedster such as Dembele. Additionally, the coaching staff believed that the 24-year-old wasn't eating the proper meals at the right times. This spurred Dembele to hire a personal chef and change his feeding routine to only fresh foods. 

At the Euro 2020, Dembele played just one game before he sustained an injury that will see him miss up to 4 months of the new season. The French international might have so much potential and guile up his sleeves but if a permanent solution isn't found to his recurring injury problems, it would be a sorry case of what might have been.

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