Berlin (DPA)
Xavi Hernandez, the new coach of the Barcelona football team, expressed his confidence in the capabilities of the French winger, Ousmane Dembele, indicating that he could become the best player in the world in his position, and called on the Catalan club to give priority to concluding a new contract with him.
Dembele failed to prove his eligibility for the huge amount that Barcelona paid for his inclusion, which was reported to have reached 147 million euros in additions, since he joined the team from Borussia Dortmund in August 2017.
Dembele participated in 119 games with Barcelona and started 76 games, of which he started. Ten players, three of whom left the team before the 2020/21 season, participated more than him in the matches, and these three are Luis Suarez, Ivan Rakitic and Nelson Semedo, while Sergio Busquets leads the ranking of participations with a score 209 matches.
Dembele ended a five-month absence, when he participated in the match that his team won against Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League last week, but he suffered a hamstring injury, an injury that will keep him out of the team again.
Despite Dembele’s problems with fitness, Xavi made it clear during his presentation as Barcelona’s new coach at the Camp Nou on Monday that he wanted his club to keep the 24-year-old.
He added: He can become the best player in the world in his position, has great potential and a winning mentality, renewing his contract is a priority at the moment. Xavi continued: We need to work with him and we will demand a lot, but it is about him, and with his mentality, he will need to train well to prevent injuries.
Dembele scored 30 goals and assisted 20 for his Barcelona teammates, which means that he contributes directly to 65.0 goals every 90 minutes. Dembele’s contract expires at the end of the current season, and he can negotiate a transfer from the team to another club, starting from the first of next January.
Barcelona will have to find solutions to many files at the present time and in the future, not least those files during the first transfer period under the leadership of Xavi.
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