The decision, as he said Joan LaportaIs in the hands of xavi. Y xavi wants to count on Ousmane Dembele, As revealed by the newspaper AS, in the same line expressed long before by the coach that the conflict over the renewal of the Frenchman has become entrenched in such a way that Barça urged him to seek an exit before January 31.
The player stayed, once the winter market closed, and the coach wants to take advantage of it, even if that means disavowing the official version of the club that had only supported two ways: Or renewed Dembele or he had to leave before the 31st.
But Xavi considers that the striker’s contribution could be fundamental in winning a place among the first four classified to be in the Champions League next season, a fundamental factor both in sports (so world-class stars could come to Barça) and economically, immersed as the board of laporta in the reconstruction of the club.
Manage reintegration
Dembélé, who “trains very well”, according to what he said Jordi Cruyff, from Barça’s technical secretariat, will know if this weekend he is one more in the squad or his role has changed notably, and for the worse, with the arrival of aubameyang, Adama Traore Y Fernando Torres. Three strikers who, by themselves, could form Xavi’s Barça winter trident, leaving the French striker in a much more secondary position.
It is now up to Xavi to manage the reinsertion of Dembele in the group, assuming that the landscape has undergone a mutation because there is a saturation of forwards in the squad. Up to 10, including the injured Ansu Fatiwho will be out for two and a half months, cohabit in the locker room.
But the technician, who must first convince laporta Y Matthew Germanthe football director of the Barça club, maintains that the Frenchman is a differentiating factor, despite the fact that he has only scored one goal (in the Cup and against Linares) and has provided two assists in the 11 games he has played with Barça this season.
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Just now when February opens a very tough schedule for Barça (Atlético arrives at the Camp Nou on Sunday in a key event for the Champions League and in a week’s time they play the derby with Espanyol in Cornellà-El Prat), xavi He wants to count on Dembélé, despite the fact that he has not committed himself, as Laporta and the board wanted, to the future of the club. But the need squeezes and almost suffocates.
For now, the coach has recovered Daniel Alveswhom he has ruled out for the Europa League, and Ronald Araujo, the two South American players who were playing with Brazil and Uruguay, respectively. Key pieces both in the defense after the injury of lengletwhich together with that of Umtiti and Eric García, leave Xavi with only three central defenders: Piqué, Araujo and Mingueza, although the coach has not counted on him much.
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Eddie is an Australian news reporter with over 9 years in the industry and has published on Forbes and tech crunch.