Barcelona are reportedly expecting to be without Ousmane Dembele for the next two games as he continues his recovery from injury.
The 22-year-old has featured just once so far this season due to a hamstring injury which has forced him to miss the last four games across all competitions.
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In turn, the Catalan giants will hope that he can recover and be available for coach Ernesto Valverde sooner rather than later, but they may well be waiting a little longer.
According to AS, it’s suggested that the Frenchman will not only miss the clash with Granada on Saturday night, but he will also likely sit out the encounter against Villarreal next Tuesday.
While he has stepped up his recovery and been involved in training with the rest of the group this week, the report adds that it isn’t going to be enough to ensure that it isn’t a risk to throw him back into the mix.
With that in mind, AS claim that Dembele will likely now target the trip to Getafe next Saturday as his comeback game, although time will tell how he fares in training next week as he’ll surely have to convince Valverde that he is ready.
Although it’s a short-term blow for Barcelona, it promises to be another boost in the coming days as the likes of Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi have also been battling injury setbacks to start the season.
Dembele may well find it difficult to break into the starting line-up though given the arrival of Antoine Griezmann this past summer, but Valverde will surely welcome the quality depth that he also provides as they’ll be looking to compete on multiple fronts this season and will need different options and dynamics in attack depending on the opposition and circumstances.
