Ousmane Dembélé

[Ron Burgundy]

It's all a bit weird.

We're signing two Juve squad players so they have enough money to sign our Number 1 target.

We're signing Dembele so Barca have space to sign our Number 2 target.

I think that’s called the pecking order isn’t it?

 

[bigfrooj]

Arsenal are supposedly going to spend 70m on Isak.

it's got Pepe written all over it.

Please ?

 

[mark87]

And yet it still makes more sense than your post.

Good heavens, calm down!

 

[The Opinionated Lurker]

Oooh.... Real Madrid more for me.

I agree. Real are like the original state sponsored club, who’ve done a lot to fuck w us over the years even if we did get big fees. Barca have horribly mismanaged their money and people want them to fall through, kinda mad to me.

 

[dagraham]

Barca have made it clear that Dembele needs to find another club. Wouldn't be surprised if Barca would then subsidise the wages just to loan him out... he could be a no risk loan for us just like we had Bale last season. And if he does work out then we can renegotiate in the summer.

Yeah as long as it’s a loan it could be worth the risk as a wild card.

If it’s permanent then I would have big concerns.

Although I’d rather we concentrated on getting a CF, even as a short term option.

 

[sausage]

Dele made a racist video at the start of Covid and had his wrists slapped. I don't hear it keep coming back to haunt him. As long as the guy acknowledged what he did and owned his misdemeanour we need to give him the same chance at redemption.

Not wanting to endorse either, but there's a big difference.
Dele attributed a man who looked Chinese to COVID in Feb 2020, when (and it seems like forever now) COVID wasn't really a "big thing" and was associated with coming from China, with Trump constantly calling it the 'China Virus' or whatever. It's what you could call unintentional racism, as there was no obvious racist intend of malign from Dele. He apologised, people accepted it.
Dembele, from what I saw, was taking the piss out of a room full of Japanese hotel staff, saying they had "ugly faces", mocking their language, and making generalisations about the country. It was rather direct racism. That's why there was a difference.
There's the possibility of ignorance involved, because France has often had a bit of an issue with those sorts of subjects (two French players involved in the incident), especially in football, so there's a cultural aspect involved that can make it a bit more "normalised" for people who maybe have had sheltered lives.

It's mostly going to be down to the club as to whether it's an issue going forwards or not, as you could argue that there's potential offence that could be had from our key sponsors and markets, with Asia (Hong Kong, and South Korea) representing a big chunk of our club association with support and sponsorship.

 

[spursfan77]

Look the unfortunate but real situation is that we need to get players who have the talent but perhaps arent performing. If Dembele was fulfilling all his potential and talent, we would have no chance of getting him and same for or any other player - we arent dining at the very very top table. So we need to go for them when theyre not fulfilling that and hope Conte can unlock it and get him in line.

So im all for this. At 18m its relatively risk free - i mean we spent far worse on players

Yeah I’d like it to happen, so I’m preparing myself for disappointment and trying to convince myself it’s a good idea when in reality it probably isn’t.

 

[barry]

How did his catalogue of injuries start though is what I want to know. He could always have problems or it could be a bit like Bale at Madrid where sure he’s got niggles and injuries but he’s just so fed up he wont play. Bale came here on loan and those pretty much cleared up. He would have played more had Mourinho let him. Basically what I’m saying is, if he comes he might still get injuries but he might play more than he does now because he’s more motivated to.

This is speculative, and wishful, but Conte's dietician/sport scientists did wonders for Lukaku's niggles, so I'm hoping maybe the same can happen here.

 

[dirtyh]

6 month loan deal could well be the difference in the top 4 places and would pay for itself, assuming he could stay fit.

with the juve pair and potentially a 4th coming in (based on outs obv) the squad all of a sudden has a lot more usable options and is more rounded out.

 

[jbstarr14]

Oooh.... Real Madrid more for me.

This. The Spanish Government used to (until fairly recently) pay off their debts for them ffs… Add that to the Franco connections and they are (imo) easily the most detestable of foreign clubs.

 

[OpenHeartZoo]

Sure it’s already been posted somewhere but just wanted to summarise his injury record for Barcelona.

21/22 - Missed 16 games (so far)
20/21 - Missed 6 games
19/20 - Missed 42 games (basically the whole season?)
18/19 - Missed 18 games
17/18 - Missed 27 games

He’s a massively exciting talent but he’s a perma-crock (see GLC, but worse) with a poor mentality (see N’dombele).

If it’s some sort of super-cheap 6 month loan then I guess fine, maybe he gets a run of fitness and helps us to CL? Any sort of permanent on those wages would be absolute madness. I would’ve thought we’d have learned our lesson on that via recent signIngs.

 

[Aay_Jay_Dee]

Don’t want this racist waste of space near our club

 

[Ginola+Tonic]

If he’s being offered around to clubs surely we won’t be the only ones to bite???

Seems like difficult one to pull off, I imagine a few will want him.

 

[daveduvet]

Bit of Traore oil in this agreement?

 

[Amo]

Wikipedia says he supports Leeds.

Is this true?

 

[Inq]

Don’t need another expensive test dumbie for the physio’s.

Would rather we use the money on some HG players with the correct attitude.

 

[mil1lion]

Have either played at RWB, or look like they could?
From what people have said, Dembele seems to fit better with his pace and dribbling, but can he put challenges in

He can't defend no. That was also the concern with Traore. I think he'll play in a front 3 though. Can play either side so him and Kulu for Gil and Bergwijn possibly. Its possible we could play him right wing in games where we dominate and the wing backs are more like wingers. Would be a great impact sub as well.

 

[Amo]

If seldom-injured players fall apart upon stepping foot in our training ground , it could be that perpetually-injured ones never miss a match after signing.

 

[topper]

Wikipedia says he supports Leeds.

Is this true?

It is to the Leeds fan who edited his Wiki profile I expect!

 

[Marantz]

Anybody think Utd will come knocking after todays events?