How many more matches will Ousmane Dembele play for Barcelona?
Although Barcelona wanted him to depart in the January window, Ousmane Dembele is still at the club and remains one of their highest earners. The Frenchman only has a few more months remaining on his contract, one which will expire in the summer and one which he doesn’t appear willing to extend.
Barcelona had adopted a hard line stance with Dembele, urging him to either renew or depart the club and threatening to leave him on the sidelines if he stayed without renewing. This ultimatum was made in the hope that Dembele would work with the club to uncover an exit route in January, but deadline day passed and he was still on their books.
We’ll soon find out if the promise to freeze him out extends into February and beyond, but Xavi has already suggested that things have changed. “We haven’t found a solution for Ousmane Dembele,” the coach said in a press conference on Saturday. “There were some circumstances one month ago, now there are other ones. He has a contract here. We had a meeting with the president and sporting department and have decided a final solution now. He is a Barcelona player. He is part of the squad. We have to use him, as he can help us and has been a good professional.”
🎙 Xavi on the @Dembouz situation: pic.twitter.com/UFDf8CeN9V
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 5, 2022
Vote: How many games will Dembele play for Barcelona over the coming months?
It seems that Xavi will use Dembele at some point over the second half of the season and that the forward won’t be left out entirely. So, just how many games will he play between now and the end of 2021/22?
Barcelona have 17 LaLiga Santander matches remaining, plus however many games they end up playing in the Europa League. So, you can have your say in this poll to tell us how many more appearances you think Dembele will make for the Blaugrana.
He has already played 11 times for the club in 2021/22, scoring one goal. The absences in the first half of the season were because of injury, though. In the second half of the campaign, there may be other reasons whenever Dembele isn’t in the starting line-up.