Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele may have kept injury quiet

The surgeon who operated on Ousmane Dembele believes the Barcelona striker may have kept a hamstring problem quiet in his early days in Spain due to the pressure of replacing Neymar.

After losing the Brazilian to Paris Saint-Germain in a £198million world record transfer in the summer, Barcelona signed Dembele from Borussia Dortmund for £96.8m but a hamstring injury in September ruled him out for three-and-a-half months.

Sakari Orava, who operated on Dembele in Finland, thinks there was an underlying problem which could have been discovered earlier.

The problem ruled the £96.8m signing out for three-and-a-half months from September

‘Maybe it was a sin of youth not to say that he felt pain in that area before,’ Orava told Mundo Deportivo.

‘The pressure he’d been exposed to after his signing for Barca also could have influenced it.’

Shortly after undergoing surgery, Dembele posted an image on Instagram of his Barcelona team-mates lining up with shirts saying ‘Courage Ousmane’ with a caption ‘I arrive in two months’ – leaving some fans thinking he could make a return ahead of schedule.

But Orava believes the 20-year-old should not rush back.

‘Like most kids his age, he’s optimistic but I prefer to be a little more cautious and stick with the original assessment,’ Orava said.

Sakari Orava, who operated on Dembele, thinks he could have kept an initial injury quiet

Dembele signed for Barcelona after Neymar joined Paris Saint-Germain in the summer

‘I am in permanent contact with (Barcelona’s) Dr Pruna, who is sending me reports about what Dembele’s doing.

‘So far, everything’s going fine, his recovery is going well.’

Dembele played four matches for Barcelona before the injury struck but was unable to score his first goal for the club.