Today is a good day for Ousmane Dembele.
Two goals in a Man of the Match performance for Barcelona against Villarreal were hugely important for the player on Wednesday night. That’s now three goals and an assist in his last four performances, and given the only match he didn’t score or set someone up was 8 minutes against Sevilla, it’s very good.
Not only that, he’s shown he’s not just a sprinter, there’s been some lovely play from the Frenchman.
Dembele has had trouble settling in at Barcelona. Injuries haven’t helped, and neither has the idea that the club bought him as a panic signing because Neymar went to PSG, without the longer term planning over what he’d actually do in the team.
The intense nature and rush of the deal has led to some doubt and a feeling of mistrust, which is then pushed upon the individual.
There’s been repeated doubts voiced in the Catalan media about the player’s lifestyle. He likes partying too much, he has too many friends over, his diet and general lifestyle is poor, he’s not committed enough as a professional footballer… all the usual things which are prompted by gossip.
El Confidencial say Barcelona hired the youngster a chef, to make sure his diet at home was perfect. But Dembele fired the cook, because he ‘feared he was being watched’.
Given the rumours about him, it’s no wonder the 20 year old may have been worried. The former Borussia Dortmund player stated earlier this year that he’d hired his own chef, there’s no confirmation whether that was to replace the blaugrana one.
Dembele may have secured himself at least another season at the Camp Nou, and whilst the Catalan media will use that to try and replace his personality and DNA with the Barca clone model, hopefully he’s strong enough to continue being himself.
It may be wise to check that chef didn’t plant a camera.
