Excl: Ousmane Dembélé opens up to SPORT about things changed for him at Barça

A personality to uncover. Ousmane Dembélé, one of the great enigmas of the Barça dressing room, lets us try to decode him. In what is a rare occurrence, the Frenchman opens up setting aside his shyness to give us endless answers. And a few headlines.  

It's looking good, Ousmane...

I think we're off to a great start. There are a lot of young players, a very good atmosphere in the dressing room and it's good for the team. I think we're going to enjoy it on the pitch; the new players have adapted very well, and everyone is happy and ready to win titles.

I imagine that Xavi deserves some credit for this good feeling. Since his arrival, he has praised and defended you to the hilt. 

My relationship with Xavi is very good and special. We were in sync from minute one. I always say it, and it's a fact, I like him a lot as a person and a coach. I haven't had a coach like that since Thomas Tuchel. 

What did he ask you? Do you remember the first thing he said to you?

Xavi talks to me a lot in training, he is very attentive and gives me a lot of advice to improve. The first thing Xavi told me was that I was a very good player, but that I had to improve my mentality. That I have talent, but I have to work hard for the team. That I already had the dribbling, one of the two or three actions that I did well, but I had to score more goals and provide many more assists. 

He wanted you to be more well-rounded, I guess?

He wanted me to be much more complete, yes. Off the field, he didn't ask me for anything more because he hadn't known me well. In the first two months, he saw that I was a simple, normal, calm person. He had only heard things about me in the press. And they were not exactly good (laughs). 

What were the keys to your decision to stay?

Without a doubt, Xavi was the key to my staying. Also the president. I talked a lot with both of them. I'm doing well. Everyone is happy now.

You haven't been injured for more than nine months. Have you definitively turned the page on that period?

The initial period at Barcelona was very difficult, especially the first three years. With the injuries, the games, one-day good and the next bad. I think it's life, in 2017 I was 20 years old. I had to learn a lot, I had been in professional soccer for just a year and a half with Rennes and Dortmund. I was very young and now, at 25, I feel more mature and calmer.

What's the explanation for the resurrection you went through?

The injuries were a result of me not working hard enough when I was 20. And if you want to be a great player, you have to work hard. Your talent is not enough. I didn't know that before, but now I see that it's essential to work on and off the field.

Did you panic about getting injured? 

I was a bit scared, yes. I thought I could get injured at any moment. Everything changed with the arrival of Koeman. I think I had an injury in the hamstring and it generated a lot of fear. The fear pushed me and everything changed for the better. 

This was the moment it 'clicked'?

That's right. The 'click' was after that injury when Koeman arrived. I worked hard to avoid injuries. I started to play, I think there were 46 games that season. I talked to the trainers, to my personal trainer. That's when they told me that if I didn't work I would keep getting injured and I wasn't going to enjoy soccer. 

And what has changed in your day-to-day life since then?

Now I have a physical trainer, who talks with the Barça guys, with Ivan Torres. I work in the morning and I have exercises after training to strengthen the hamstrings and so on... There are very good physios at Barça. I work a lot with Carlos (Nogueira) and my physical trainer. 

Would you say that people have been unfair to you, Ousmane? The people around you, the press...

I don't want to say too much about whether I've been treated unfairly or not; if I've been criticized too much. I'm now focused on performing well on the field. Criticism is part of life, you can't satisfy or please everyone. 

What is Dembélé like in the dressing room? We are told that you are a troublemaker...

I'm a quiet guy, I like to make jokes, I like everything. I'm a joker, yes, but I'm not the worst in the dressing room, there are many others more dangerous than me (laughs). I like the game. There is a very good atmosphere. 

And off the field, what do you usually spend your free time doing?

Off the field I spend a lot of time at home, I like to watch football matches. I watch a lot of my team, Rennes, the Premier League and La Liga. Atletico or Madrid. I watch my games when we analyze the videos with the coach and Oscar. I like watching football. I like Barcelona a lot, the city, and playing paddle tennis with my friends. The weather. I love the city.