Ousmane Dembele has been at the centre of controversy over the past 10 days as a result of an
pic5678unexplained absence from training. It wasn't the first time this had happened and Barcelona decided to punish him by leaving him out of the squad for the match against Real Betis, while president Josep Maria Bartomeu met with the player's agents to explain the Blaugrana's discontent.
pic5678At the same time, some current and former Barcelona players spoke out about the need for the Frenchman to get his head down and to focus on football.It's likely that Dembele will have received the message, as he'd have to have been living under a rock to have missed it. Now it's over to him to prove that he can get to work and become important for the team. There will be no more punishments unless there are further offences, meaning that any decisions taken by Ernesto Valverde going forward will be exclusively sporting.