Ousmane Dembélé is on the rise at FC Barcelona after many setbacks. The Frenchman looks back – and explains what has changed.
Ousmane Dembélé needed a lot of effort at FC Barcelona.
Due to recurring injury concerns and major adaptation problems, the expensive offensive player has already been stamped as a transfer flop. Even the arrival of the 135-million-man was not a good star, after all Dembélé forced his departure from Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2017 only with a strike effective in the media.
In recent weeks, however, the French world champion has grown to become a top performer and regular at the Spanish FCB. In six of the last seven games in LaLiga he was in the starting eleven.
Dembélé has taken an important step in his development, as he himself now admits. “I think I’ve changed physically,” said the 23-year-old in an interview with UEFA.com. Thanks to his coaches and supervisors at Barca, he is now in a different condition: “When I arrived here, I was very fragile.”
Already with Stades Rennais and Borussia Dortmund he was a regular, but not very stable player. “But I’ve come a long way. This is where I found a fitness coach and everything has changed.” Dembélé had repeatedly been accused of missing the necessary professional attitude to his profession.