Ousmane Dembele Turns Up 2 Hours Late for Barcelona Training Amid Premier League Links

​Ousmane Dembele is in hot water again after showing up two hours late for Barcelona training on Sunday, throwing his commitment into question once more.

Dembele missed a training session completely last month and claimed to have stomach problems when the club contacted him seeking an explanation.

On this occasion, Mundo Deportivo claims that the Frenchman simply overslept, but others will see this as further evidence that Dembele's professionalism has fallen below the standards demanded of a Barcelona player.

​Liverpool and ​Arsenal have both been strongly linked with the 21-year-old, with Arsenal head of recruitment ​Sven Mislintat recently lauding the player he brought to ​Borussia Dortmund during his time at the German club.

"Ousmane decided games with his actions. His ability to devise strategies on the pitch and use every inch of space was pure gold for us [at Dortmund]," Mislintat told German outlet ​Zeit.

After the previous incident, Ernesto Valverde left Dembele out of his squad to face Betis the following weekend. It remains to be seen if he will do the same for Tuesday's Champions League game against Tottenham.

On the pitch, Dembele's rich vein of form continued with his third goal in four La Liga outings as ​Barcelona beat Espanyol 4-0 on Saturday.

Dembele has received the backing of his teammates, with both Nelson Semedo and Lionel Messi leaping to the youngster's defence after his performance in El Derbi Barceloni.

RCD Espanyol v FC Barcelona - La Liga

"He is totally committed to the team. Now he is more responsible and is showing it in the field. It must continue like this, and I am convinced that it will," ​said Semedo.

​Messi added: "He’s very good. He wants to play, he had a good game, scored a goal and was important. We need him."


Dembele's goal was his eighth of the season, already doubling his tally from last year.


Source : 90min