Barcelona have confirmed that Ousmane Dembele has suffered a setback in his latest comeback from injury with muscle fatigue noted as the issue.
The 22-year-old has already seen injuries take their toll on him this season as he’s been limited to just nine appearances across all competitions having missed the last nine La Liga games with a hamstring problem.
SEE MORE: Barcelona star breaks silence on future following Manchester United transfer approach
Having been restricted to 23 games in his first year with the Catalan giants in the 2017/18 campaign due to various injury setbacks, it has been a troublesome issue for the French international since he moved to Spain.
Particularly given coach Quique Setien was vocal last week about Dembele essentially being like a January signing for them to give them a boost for the second half of the season, as per Marca, it will be a major blow for him too that his star man has suffered a fresh setback.
As seen in Barcelona’s tweet below, they have confirmed that the forward sustained the issue during training on Monday and that muscle fatigue is being blamed.
While it’s added that he will continue with his rehabilitation, it remains to be seen just how problematic the setback will be as it could be argued that the fact that Barcelona have made an announcement on it would suggest that it’s serious enough to set him back in his bid to return to action.
Time will tell if that’s the case or not, but for now it’s a bitterly disappointing update for Setien and Barca, as that means they will have to continue to rely on Lionel Messi, Antoine Griezmann and Ansu Fati to lead the way in the final third as the attacking trident.
Given the quality and experience of Messi and Griezmann combined with the youthful exuberance of Fati who scored a brace in the win over Levante at the weekend, they may feel confident of coping without Dembele.
That said, they are still trying to compete on multiple fronts this season, and so having that quality depth and ability to rotate will be crucial for Setien.
LATEST NEWS | During this morning’s training session, Ousmane Dembélé felt some discomfort in his right leg as a consequence of muscle fatigue. He will continue with his rehabilitation. pic.twitter.com/rlK7IgHoGb
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) February 3, 2020