One year of Dembélé's magic

Tuesday 28 August marks the first anniversary of Ousmane Dembélé’s presentation as an FC Barcelona player.

“It is a pleasure to play alongside Leo Messi, the best footballer of all time” he said at the time – and although his first season at the Camp Nou would be blighted by injury, the French international would go on to make 26 official appearances and score six goals.

We have also has ample opportunity to enjoy his extraordinary speed and ability to play with both feet – of his six goals to date, three have been scored with his left and the other three with the right.

Debut assist

Dembélé made his debut on 9 September 2017 in a 5-0 defeat of local rivals Espanyol at the Camp Nou. The former Borussia Dortmund star was soon celebrating his first assist, with Luis Suárez converting the pass to score the fifth and final goal of the derby victory.

It was just a week later that the ‘Mosquito’ injured his hamstring against Getafe and was side-lined for four months. Not long after making his comeback he was out again, but not for so long this time and by March he was finally able to celebrate his first goal – against Chelsea in in the Champions League.

But after something of a stop-start debut season, in 2018/19 it looks like we are going to be seeing a whole lot more of Dembélé. Things have certainly got off to a good start – with two goals already in his account and a stunning display last Saturday against Valladolid at the José Zorrilla.