Barcelona making big plans for Ousmane Dembele next season
Eric Abidal will be key in helping the French forward find his best form
Barcelona will bet big on Ousmane Dembele again next season after Antoine Griezmann's 'no' shifted the club's priorities.
Dembele's first season in Spain left some doubts. However, any conclusion has to include the fact he spent many months either sidelined or recovering from a serious injury.
His adaption to the club wasn't just damaged by fitness issues, either. There were other issues which went against him, such as having to adapt to a new system which doesn't favour his game (he was asked to do much more defensive work, for example). His integration with the group was slower than expected, too, due to language issues and his shy personality.
Barça's coaches were the first to detect problems in his tactical maturity. "Dembele is a player that isn't used to working on tactics and we're working on that aspect of his game. We want him to get used to our game," said Jon Azpiazu, Ernesto Valverde's No.2, in April.
Valverde is convinced that Dembele will improve a lot (at the moment he's as likely to produce a moment of magic as he is to give the ball away or make unncessary erros). He's ready to help him become an important player in the team.
From there, he's planning to play a more familiar 4-3-3 formation. It's a system which would get the best out of the France forward, because he would have more attacking responsibilities -- and, in theory, less defending to do.
It would allow him to show off his strengths, despite the fact Barça's style (possession, slow transitions) isn't the best setting for him. He's best when games are open, end to end and with space. Valverde's already tried 4-3-3 at time during his reign, such as when Lionel Messi has been on the bench or not called up.
Beyond the system, the club also believe new sporting director Eric Abidal will have an important role in Dembele's growth. Last season, he could have done with a figure like Abidal in his first few months in Catalonia.
Abidal will be an important person in helping Dembele rediscover his Borussia Dortmund form as he looks to justify the big investment (more than 100 million euros) Barça made in him last summer. Before that, though, he hopes to star in France's World Cup campaign.
