Faced with the precipitate start of Neymar this summser, Barcelona bet on the winger Ousmane Dembele to replace him. But the French injured when Catalan club defeated 2-1 over Getafe on Saturday.
The 20-year-old winger, flews ro Finland, on Monday to be operated on by specialist doctor Sakari Orava after rupturing a tendon of the femoral biceps.
As Dembele began to take his mark and had just taken two titles, a question arises again who to replace the left wing during his unavailability for three and half month.
“I don’t think we should read too much into things like that.” Barca’s Valverde said after the game against Getafe. “But he’s player who has never had muscle problems in the past, so maybe he doesn’t have the experience to recognise problem which could become worse.”
“Because he’s a fast player, it’s the movement he made which was the worst thing for the muscle. Maybe a more expericenced player would have known not to make that movement.” he added.
When asked who would be the right palyer to replace Dembele until next January, Valverde said he would priorities from Barca’s key players.
“The are several players who can play in Dembele’s place,” Valverde said. “We have Deulofeu, Vidal, Denis Suarez who played on the left last week. There is Andre Gomes too. I don’t know.” Velverde added.
However, Valverde’s alternatives seem a bit tender in view of the important deadlines that await Barca in La Liga against Atletico Madrid and El Clasico against Real in December and Champions League against Juventus in November.
Ousmane Dembele set to miss La Liga agaisnt Real Madrid in December. (Source:www.sillyseason.com)
Valverde’s statement was also backed by Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu. He said he would not recruite any new players in the winter transfer market in 2018 to replace Dembele. Bartomeu believes Barcelona squad is quite competitive at this moment.
“We don’t have plans in the winter transfer market. Dembele will come back when we need and he will show us all about his abilities.” Bartomeu said.
“I have spoken with him, he’s affected, but that’s normal. He is also optimistic and he told me he knows everything will be fine, and that he’s in good hands.” Bartomeu added.
So far, Dembele has played three games with the Catalan tim. He managed one assit for his team-mate Luis Suarez when Barcelona won 5-0 over Espanyol on September 9.
