Gerard Pique on Dembele: Star Barcelona defender Gerard Pique spoke on Ousmane Dembele’s disciplinary issues.
The problems surrounding Barcelona star, Ousmane Dembele, don’t seem to end. The French youngster was under scanner for being AWOL, following gastroenteritis. He was eventually kept out of the squad for the game against Real Betis.
Earlier, Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo reported that Ousmane Dembele’s disciplinary issues have irked the Barca stars, as well as coach Ernesto Valverde.
France’s national team manager Didier Deschamps stated that it’s in the habit of Ousmane Dembele to be late in trainings and make excuses, and he needs to improve his discipline.
Now, Dembele’s Barcelona teammate Gerard Pique has also issued a warning for the French youngster.
Gerard Pique on Dembele:
Ousmane Dembele joined Barcelona last season, but has been rather underwhelming at the Catalan club so far. After a series of inconsistent performances in the first year, 2018/19 was expected to be Dembele’s breakthrough season.
However, most of the current season has been marred with controversies surrounding Dembele, the Barcelona squad and manager Ernesto Valverde.
Gerard Pique has now spoken on Dembele’s situation at Barcelona as well. The Spanish defender stated that he hopes the French forward will learn from this experience.
“We were also young and we have also committed mistakes,”Pique said, as quoted by Reuters. “From experience, we have to help him to understand that football is a 24-hour job and he has to live accordingly.”
He insisted that the decision to leave him out of the squad must have a positive impact on Dembele.
“I’m convinced that he’s going to improve in this respect and that decisions like the one the coach took will help him.”
Earlier, during Barcelona preparations for the game against Real Betis, Dembele was absent from training. Mundo Deportivo reports that he couldn’t be contacted for around ‘one-and-a-half hours,’ which annoyed the Barca staff.
What next?
Barcelona will return to La Liga with a heavyweight clash against Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid next week, after the end of the international break.
