Ousmane Dembélé

[Potroh]

When "Pep the sacred" arrived here, he told Hleb that the 1st thing he needs to do is to learn Spanish. And when the later rejected it put his career in jeopardy.
When Pep heard Abidal & Henry speaking together in French, he went mad on them. Told them they can only speak Spanish within the club.

And it wasn't only Pep, when Rijkaard arrived and put Valdes as starting GK over Rustu, he cited speaking Spanish as the main reason for it.

Honestly, I think Pep was overdoing it. But to underestimate the importance of speaking the language is crazy. Especially in a club like Barca, when you are trying to get a long term career here, when you are sidelined half of the time.
This is for sure a bad look for Dembele.

If Pep really did that, it was a frightfully bad thing to do.
I'd say it brushes the boundaries of an unnecessary nationalistic curve.
I'm sure he wouldn't have done the same at Bayern, where quite a few players didn't speak German, including himself.

These players are highly paid professionals. All that matters is if they stick to the actual content of their contracts, which hardly ever mention their communication skills.
If a coach distinguishes or selects players according to something that is not in their actual roster, he brakes his own contact, that is also a bad sign.

Story: in the 70's-80's there was a trombone player, playing for one of the best symphonic orchestras in the world in England.
Musicians and critiques alike said he was the best trombone player in the world.
But he was a complicated guy because he could hardly read sheet-music. He had to learn everything by heart first, and then he played like no one else.
Many of the envious other musicians started an internal campaign against him, saying he inability to read music was ridiculous and he had a "bad influence" on the orchestra.
Then Andre Previn, the famous conductor, who was the leader of the orchestra told them: "I'm only interested in how he plays when we play and he is undoubtedly the best..."

The same stands for footballers. If the player plays good on the pitch, gives his best to the team, neither coach nor anyone else has the rights to interfere with his private sphere, be it his language skills or anything else for that matter.

 

[khaled_a_d]

If Pep really did that, it was a frightfully bad thing to do.
I'd say it brushes the boundaries of an unnecessary nationalistic curve.
I'm sure he wouldn't have done the same at Bayern, where quite a few players didn't speak German, including himself.

These players are highly paid professionals. All that matters is if they stick to the actual content of their contracts, which hardly ever mention their communication skills.
If a coach distinguishes or selects players according to something that is not in their actual roster, he brakes his own contact, that is also a bad sign.

Pep spoke German in his 1st conference with Bayern. So he applied it everywhere he goes. Even when it is different with coaches.
And sorry to say, but this is just bs. Players are employers, employers are asked to be good in their soft skills and communications.
Gone are the days when you are just about doing your thing technically and that is it. Everyone needs to have ton of other skills.
Just like it is the way on the pitch, players aren't just defenders or attackers. Everyone needs to press and knows how to pass. Out of the pitch there are other skills they need to learn, and actually paid for it. Language and communication are top of the list

 

[Respekt_III]

Pep spoke German in his 1st conference with Bayern. So he applied it everywhere he goes. Even when it is different with coaches.
And sorry to say, but this is just bs. Players are employers, employers are asked to be good in their soft skills and communications.
Gone are the days when you are just about doing your thing technically and that is it. Everyone needs to have ton of other skills.
Just like it is the way on the pitch, players aren't just defenders or attackers. Everyone needs to press and knows how to pass. Out of the pitch there are other skills they need to learn, and actually paid for it. Language and communication are top of the list

I don't want to dwell on this but no it really isn't a requirement what so ever unless its contractually stipulated... anyway...

 

[FinBarcelonafan]

When "Pep the sacred" arrived here, he told Hleb that the 1st thing he needs to do is to learn Spanish. And when the later rejected it put his career in jeopardy.
When Pep heard Abidal & Henry speaking together in French, he went mad on them. Told them they can only speak Spanish within the club.

And it wasn't only Pep, when Rijkaard arrived and put Valdes as starting GK over Rustu, he cited speaking Spanish as the main reason for it.

Honestly, I think Pep was overdoing it. But to underestimate the importance of speaking the language is crazy. Especially in a club like Barca, when you are trying to get a long term career here, when you are sidelined half of the time.
This is for sure a bad look for Dembele.

Aguero doesn't speak English.

 

[EdmondDantes]

Aguero doesn't speak English.

He actually does. He's just not comfortable with speaking it on camera.

There's a video of him being interviewed in pre-season and his English is decent. Not great but decent.

 

[Potroh]

And sorry to say, but this is just bs. Players are employers, employers are asked to be good in their soft skills and communications.

You may have never seen a contract in the football world. Sorry to say but I did.
First of all players are not employers as such. Sportsmen are never employers, the coaches and other staff are.
On paper, the player offers his "services" to a particular club, under the list of xyz conditions.

I can go on with the details if you wish, unfortunately I have good personal experience with that type of paperwork, but you can dig up some info on the topic (preferably BEFORE you humbly mention bullshit).

 

[MTL_Barca]

Pep did most of his work at Bayern in german as far as i remember and even said in an interview last year that he was thinking about canceling his new job after the first 2 months of learning german were so hard.

So it seems like that is very important for him, and probably his players too.

I don't think it's really the deciding factor with Dembele (unless all the others also can't understand Valverde and that's why the team plays like that ) , but tbh that's one of the things i never really understood about some players.

 

[Batistuta9]

I don't really agree with a lot of the posters having a go at him for not speaking Spanish. Truth is, if he was playing at an elite level no one would even care if he couldn't speak at all. As long as he keeps underperforming people will look for things to attack him with.

 

[Potroh]

As long as he keeps underperforming people will look for things to attack him with.

And exactly that is the problem.
Attacking any of your own team's players is madness, specially if the cause is simply an incoherently performing player.
Attacking your own team members is not the same as disliking any of them, but even dislike is too personal to be vehemently shared all the time.

But attacking a footballer, questioning his sanity, naming him all possible things on Earth, just simply reflects on the intentions of the attacker.

But I can put it differently:
Attacking your own team members is like shitting into your own bed, killing your own pet, beating up yourself or your closest family members, etc.
Attacking a player in your own team is private type of masturbation, when the attacker has the inevitable urge to publicly spread his semen...

 

[Horatio]

Being able to communicate with the other players is important for raising team morale and on the pitch communication. Dembele should make an effort at least learning Spanish.

 

[Gari]

La Liga Disciplinary Committee have said their final word: Ousmane Dembele is suspended for two games and thus will miss El Clasico. Barcelona's appeal against the red card the player received in the game against Sevilla has been dismissed.Moreover, both the club and the player have been fined: Barca would have to pay 700 euros, while the for the player it's 600 euros.

 

[Ernesto GOATverde Tejedor]

La Liga Disciplinary Committee have said their final word: Ousmane Dembele is suspended for two games and thus will miss El Clasico. Barcelona's appeal against the red card the player received in the game against Sevilla has been dismissed.Moreover, both the club and the player have been fined: Barca would have to pay 700 euros, while the for the player it's 600 euros.

Liga Florentino Perez.

 

[Andresito]

Ansu ready to score his first El Clásico goal.

 

[Potroh]

Being able to communicate with the other players is important for raising team morale and on the pitch communication.

1. Green room communication between players in the footballing world means joking, in 80% of cases.
2. To understand those jokes, one needs a fairly thorough understanding of the tongue, including twisted words and colloquial expressions turned upside down. Not easy.
3. On the pitch communication is a myth, because in an averagely noisy stadium, you hear nothing from the others, even if said in your own tongue, apart from the keeper telling the wall to go left or right.
4. Team-morale doesn't only depend on communication, it's much more related to the personality of the coach, namely if he is able to play a MULTIPLE ROLE, simultaneously being the friend of the players and the father of them, plus the respected or acknowledged teacher.
5. Morale of a team is usually not the relation between the soldiers (players) but the authority and power of the generalship (coach).
6. The coach represents the club - in single person - thus morale is fine, if the players respect the coach, but the respect for the club is NOT independent from the coach, but comes through him everyday and in every situation.

 

[Co0ter]

He speaks French, the transition to Spanish, Portuguese etc is quite easy when compared to English or German. He doesn't really have an excuse.