Ousmane Dembele set for Barcelona return

There is good news on the injury front for Barcelona and manager Ronald Koeman as Ousmane Dembele flew to Finland to see his doctors and get an all-clear.

Dembele’s injuries are well-documented as he’s yet to make his debut this season following an injury with France during Euro 2020.

Four months after surgery, Barcelona are close to getting one of their more explosives players back on the pitch.

Barcelona desperately missed someone of Dembele’s qualities

According to Sport, the medical tests performed in Finland went positive. As a result, Dembele could be included in the squad list for the match midweek against Rayo Vallecano.

Many would have liked to see the Frenchman back in time for El Clásico but the club are going to treat Dembele carefully given his injury history. Once he returns, he is likely going to be a big part of Koeman’s plans for the remainder of the season.

One of the reasons why Joan Laporta and his board decided to stick with the Dutchman despite all the evidence to the contrary is because he has been without a number of key players.

Players like Ansu Fati and Sergio Aguero are back and with the pending return of Dembele, he’ll soon have a full squad to play with. Barcelona’s struggles so far this season has been scoring goals and that should improve.

With Dembele’s return, however, also comes uncertainty about his future. His contract is up at the end of the season and the Catalan side would like to extend it. There was optimism in the beginning but now there are creeping doubts.

The last thing they want is another situation in which they send a player to the stands because they cannot come to an agreement on a new deal. Some reports were linking him to Newcastle United following the club’s takeover.

Still, Barcelona remain hopeful Dembele’s desire to stay trumps what other clubs can offer him. In any case, coming back and ready to play is the first and most important part of the process.