Ousmane Dembélé
- Thread starter Devils
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JohnN
Senior Member
Many people said otherwise, me included. Apart from his blistering pace, that still amazes me, I can see so many fatal flaws in his game, even from his early days. With those flaws and a price tag that high, it should have been a no brainer to stay away.
When I say "fatal flaws" I subscribe to the @BBZ way of thinking that some players have attributes that are natural to them and others they can improve but not by much. If the later are really important for a player of certain position, then it is a fatal flaws, as he will mkst likely never improve enough to be a wc footballer.
Fati_Future_BallonDor
Well-known member
Yeah thats true, he had a lot of ball losses in his dortmund days but he was very young so i thought he will improve in that aspect and will become a weapon for us, thought wrong. The only thing which i had critizied was his transfer price. Anyways, its better to forget him.
jamrock
Senior Member
Of the 3 players we wasted money on, dembele is the only one I'm not upset about even to this day, because I could see the logic in signing him from day one, unlike Coutinho & griezmann,it didn't work out but such is life. The biggiest mistake was signing him right after selling Neymar it was a panic buy, we could have save alot of money if we just waiting 1 season.
JohnN
Senior Member
Coutinho is the one that was logical. Proven player with great technical abilities and in the mold of many Brazilians Barca signed.
On the other hand we have a kid that forced his way out if his club, was unproven, had serious playing issues and we splashed cache like it was nothing.
About Griezmann, even that has more logic, due to his status even though he wouldn't fit the playstyle.
So my final assessment would be.
More Logic behind the transfer:
1: Coutinho
2: Griezmann
3: Dembmele
Biggest flop:
1: courtinho
2: Dembmele
3: Griezmann
MTL_Barca
Well-known member
Honestly i'd say Griezmann made the least sense at the time of his transfer. Financially because of his insane salary and the club had already spent 300M on Cou+Dembele prior (and they didn't bother to sell one of the them before signing Griezmann) so it's not like there was still Neymar cash to splash and sporting wise because we all knew he'd be an awkward fit next to Messi and that's exactly what we got.
Coutinho biggest disappointment, i was never his biggest fan but he was supposed to be a world class player in his prime and we pretty much got nothing out of him besides a solid few months in la liga. His biggest impact on Barcas history will be scoring against us as a loan player in one the worst CL humiliations ever.
Dembele a mix of both. He was way too expensive and couldn't perform, but the injuries took a big part there as well and partly that's just bad luck no matter how professional you live so hard to say what could've happened without that. At the very least he could've probably been sold at some point if he wasn't injured all the time.
Coutinho biggest disappointment, i was never his biggest fan but he was supposed to be a world class player in his prime and we pretty much got nothing out of him besides a solid few months in la liga. His biggest impact on Barcas history will be scoring against us as a loan player in one the worst CL humiliations ever.
Dembele a mix of both. He was way too expensive and couldn't perform, but the injuries took a big part there as well and partly that's just bad luck no matter how professional you live so hard to say what could've happened without that. At the very least he could've probably been sold at some point if he wasn't injured all the time.
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jamrock
Senior Member
Griezmann by far the least logical signing, Coutinho was as well for the same reason griezmann was he plays in the half spaces that messi occupies, so to bring him in as an iniesta replacement, when he showed no ability to play in midfield was crazy, especially for the price we bought him for.
Dembele on the other hand, a young exiting winger, who most thought at the time was one of the most exciting young players in Europe, where we had a clear space & path for him in the team makes sense.
Dembele on the other hand, a young exiting winger, who most thought at the time was one of the most exciting young players in Europe, where we had a clear space & path for him in the team makes sense.
Total-Football
Senior Member
Even at dortmund was never convinced of him. In teams like Barcelona the winger has to be a "cut inside" type of winger.. One that tends to cut inside to shoot or deliver the killer pass.. Or cut inside to just demand the ball from Messi or other passers (like villa used to do and Pedro). Dumbele, even when he was producing those half assed numbers of assists, was actually dribbling outside before crossing like the 80's and the 90's.. That type of winger-work is obsolete. Or at best might work with a 9 like Lewa supported by other tall players... Dembele never made sense to me since the beginning.
All these excuses for Barcelona's scouting are fucking hilarious. Point to me to a video of Dembele confidently trapping balls under his foot back in Dortmund. Point to me to a video of Dembele brilliantly dribbling in tight spaces as we expect Barcelona forwards to do back when he was in Dortmund. Dembele utilizing skills a la Sancho/Cr7/Hazard in Dortmund. Confident, consistent finishing. Moving around inside the box fishing out for balls.
All you'll get in those Dortmund videos is his pace in wide open acres of space, him spamming crosses to runners (including Auba, who was an incredible striker with tons of positional intelligence, him scoring bangers, scoring scuffed shots, and fake shots. Exactly what he presents at Barcelona.
Dembele hasn't degraded as a player. He just had the benefit of shining in a league where relatively poor technique won't hold you back from stat padding, whilst playing for a strong team (relative to the league) alongside a great striker and second striker in Auba and Reus, led by a great coach known for pushing players well beyond their ability.
The deficiencies were obvious. People here pointed it out. Barcelona were simply idiots for thinking he'd "develop" and gambling on that chance with 140m euros. It was dumb back then and it's dumb in hindsight.
He quite literally lacks all the prerquisites for Barcelona forward. Not because of his injuries, he always fucking did. And we spent 140m on that.
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Total-Football
Senior Member
Fati_Future_BallonDor
Well-known member
Decade of Dempele starts this season...for sure.
BBZ8800
Senior Member
I loved Laporta in his first presidency.
It seems that he wants to go from GOAT to WOAT this time.
Decade of dumbination:
Jadentheman
Active member
BBZ you do know contract renewals are done to sometimes for an eventual sell, right? There are no buyers right now, but next time will be. And Barca might be able to regain some of their costs back on him. This is purely a business play, not a sporting one.
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