Barcelona consider Dembele better than Mbappe - are they crazy?
Martin Macdonald
- Updated: 11 Nov 2021 10:28 CST
- 4 min read
Barcelona could have signed Kylian Mbappe instead of Ousmane Dembele in 2017, according to ousted president Josep Maria Bartomeu.
In August of 2017, Barca completed the signing of Dembele from Borussia Dortmund for an astronomical fee of €105 million.
The Frenchman was brought in as a long-term replacement for Neymar, who that summer completed a world-record €222m transfer from the Blaugrana to Paris Saint-Germain.
PSG also moved to capture Mbappe from Monaco that summer. This was also a loan deal, but one that made it inevitable that the Ligue 1 giants would ultimately pay €160m for the talented young forward.
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Mbappe, though, might have had a very different story had he gone to Barca.
In October, Bartomeu told AS:
"[Mbappe's] signing was on the table, but the coaches preferred Dembele because they wanted a player to open the field,' Bartomeu said on Esport3.
Though Bartomeu signed the cheque, he has thrown the Barcelona coaches under the bus by saying it was their decision to sign Mbappe over Dembele.
The more troubling factor, now, is that there are some within the club who STILL think this.
That is, according to Spanish show El Partidazo de COPE.
Barcelona's transfer plans
Xavi has now returned to Barcelona as head coach following the tumultuous tenure of Ronald Koeman.
Even though the club are in a terrible state financially, they are still putting transfer plans together under their new coach.
Xavi reportedly wants to make RB Leipzig attacking midfielder Dani Olmo and Manchester City winger Ferran Torres his two first major signings as Barcelona boss.
Finances will make these moves extremely difficult unless Barca can raise significant funds.
Dembele and Mbappe are mentioned in the report because Barcelona do not feel that they need to improve in the right-wing position as they hold hope that the former will eventually come good and live up to his tremendous promise.
| Dembele at Barcelona | Mbappe at PSG | |
|---|---|---|
| Starts | 76 | 164 |
| Goals | 18 | 139 |
| Assists | 14 | 66 |
| Trophies won | 5 | 11 |
| Games Missed with Injury | 99 | 22 |
Dembele's Barcelona career has been ravaged by injuries since his move.
In four-and-a-half seasons with Barca, he is yet to start more than 20 La Liga games in a single campaign.
After spending four months out due to surgery over the summer and into the start of the new season, he came back for one match before suffering a strain in training.
When it comes to Dembele injuries versus Mbappe's injuries, there is no contest.
And, Mbappe has taken advantage of his extra playing time to blitz Dembele's figures both in terms of goalscoring and assists.
In Dembele's entire Barcelona career so far, he has scored 18 La Liga goals and recorded 14 assists.
Mbappe, in the 2020/21 campaign alone, scored 27 goals and recorded seven assists.
Unfortunately for Barca, the previous comment from Bartomeu suggesting that Dembele would "open up the game more" than Mbappe really won't come as much solace to the Camp Nou faithful who will be sorely regretting the 2017 decision made to ignore Mbappe.
