Excl: Dembele explains how & when everything 'clicked' in his Barça career
The French forward sat down with SPORT this week -- full interview out on Tuesday
It's a pleasure to watch Barcelona's Ousmane Dembele in his current form. He is more implicated than ever, delivering good performances and happy on and off the pitch. In an advance of an interview that will come out in SPORT on Tuesday, we give a small preview of what has changed in the Frenchman's life in recent times. With Barça coach Xavi, of course, as one of the protagonists.
"The start was really difficult, above all the first three years," Dembele told SPORT. "With the injuries, the games, one day good, the next bad. I think that's life, I was just 20 in 2017. I had a lot to learn, I'd spent hardly 18 months in professional football with Rennes and Borussia Dortmund. I was young and now I notice I am more mature and calmer at 25."
OVERCOMING TOUGH MOMENTS
In terms of the habits he changed, the France winger explained that "I started to become a little afraid with the injuries and think that at any moment I could get injured.
"Everything changed with the arrival of Koeman. I think I had a hamstring injury and I was really scared. Afer everything changed, everything went better."
Dembele has accumulated 13 assists in 2022 and has not suffered an injury in more than 10 months.
