After a tough start to life at Barcelona, ex-Dortmund winger, Ousmane Dembele has finally found some consistency and has performed relatively better this season. While still not quite reaching the heights expected from a Barcelona player, the winger has managed to impress the fans as well as the manager and play a big part in the Catalan season. He has recently also been hailed as a “genius type player” by Joan Laporta.
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The 23-year-old made only nine appearances last season and fans thought that the French player was yet another big-money flop. The Catalan kings spent around 105 million euros to get the player from the German giants but he had failed to live up to expectations in the previous seasons. This season, however, under the guidance of Ronald Koeman he has managed to make 26 appearances and score six goals.
Former president, Joan Laporta, has revealed his liking for the player in a recent interview with Gerard Romeo on Twitch. The presidential candidate said that he was always a big fan of the French winger and that he is the type of player that needs to be protected at Barca. He also said that Dembele should receive special treatment because the club must look after their most important assets. He said,
"“I’ve always come out in favour of Ousmane. I think he deserves some special treatment because these genius types of players you have to look after them. I really like watching Dembele doing so well.”Source Goal"
Dembele himself came out in an interview with UEFA.com, stating that he was very fragile before he joined Barcelona. At Dortmund and at Stade Rennais he was physically fragile but the trainers at Camp Nou have helped him out of that problem. Dembele did start against Paris Saint-Germain, and while he did contribute to some attacking runs, the Frenchman was mostly disappointing for the Catalans especially after failing to support Sergino Dest against Kylian Mbappe.
Will Dembele prove to be a valuable asset for the Spanish giants?