The signing of Ousmane Dembele just hasn’t worked out at all for Barcelona, but recent events have somehow conspired to make things even worse.
Injuries have prevented the French forward from getting a proper run in the team, as he’s picked up so many over the years that any momentum he builds up is killed straight away.
His most recent one triggered a controversial rule that allowed them to sign Martin Braithwaite in a desperation move, but that’s only going to result in more negative PR when they look to sell the Danish international on.
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It was clear he was a panic buy, one who would tide them over until the end of the season before being sold on – probably at a loss.
There’s no way that Barca could have known what would happen with the Covid-19 crisis, but they could be left in an embarassing situation if La Liga starts again:
??Hay un jugador del Barça que mañana NO pasará el test de covid-19: Dembelé. Los pruebas son sólo para los futbolistas que están inscritos en la liga y el francés no tiene ficha. Esta noche ampliamos en @ellarguero.
— Adrià Albets (@AdriaAlbets) May 5, 2020
So Dembele will not be eligible for testing for the disease as it’s only for players registered to play in La Liga, and that suggests Dembele won’t be able to play a part this season even if he does recover from injury.
There have been plenty of complaints about the way Barca have been run in recent years, and even if it’s not truly the board’s fault, it’s embarrassing that they could be forced to use a former Middlesbrough player who was never that impressive – over a signing that once cost them more than £100m.