5 things you should know about Barcelona target Ousmane Dembele
Ousmane Dembele’s rise over the last two years has been remarkable. Signed by Borussia Dortmund from Rennes for around €15 million last summer, the 20-year-old France international is now firmly established as one of the rising talents in the game and is poised to supplement Barcelona’s stellar attacking line-up by moving to Camp Nou this summer.
The youngster has made a terrific start to life in the professional game, which was further confirmed on Wednesday as he won the Bundesliga’s Rookie of the Year award.
#1 A contract dispute nearly saw his young career jeopardised Rennes
On the verge of making his breakthrough into the Rennes squad, he refused to sign a professional deal with the club he had been with since he was 13. Although the Breton side knew his potential, Dembele claimed that they were not putting enough confidence in him.
“We were made to understand that it was going to be tricky, that he was too frail according to the staff of coach Philippe Montanier, who didn’t even think he was ready to train with the professionals,” representative Babou Sambague had said.
“In fact, there was a match between the pros and the youth team, which created more confusion and tension between the two parties.”
In the end, it took former Manchester United and Arsenal defender Mikael Silvestre, who was then the sporting director, to intervene to quell the issue.