(Reuters) -Barcelona ahead Ousmane Dembele will return to the squad for Sunday’s LaLiga match in opposition to Atletico Madrid after the membership failed to transfer him on within the January switch window, coach Xavi Hernandez stated on Saturday.
Dembele was dropped after Barca instructed him to depart earlier than the January switch window closed when contract negotiations broke down, with the membership saying a transfer could be mutually useful https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-soccer-spain-fcb-dembele-idUKKBN2JU12H.
However, the 24-year-old was unable to discover one other membership and can keep at Barca till the tip of the marketing campaign.
“We’ve discovered an answer for Ousmane Dembele. The circumstances from a month in the past have modified. He has a contract,” Xavi instructed a information convention.
“He’s a Barca participant and he is part of the squad. We have to use him and he might help us. He’s been a great skilled when he has been concerned.
“It’s a membership choice. We’ll use him once I assume it is handy.”
Dembele has failed to ship on the potential that persuaded the Spanish membership to pay 105 million euros ($120.18 million) for his providers in 2017, scoring solely 31 objectives in 129 appearances.
Asked if the house fans would direct their ire at Dembele, who is about to depart on a free switch on the finish of the season, Xavi stated: “I perceive the place of the fans who’re maybe harm by Dembele.
“We have to shut ranks and take into consideration ourselves, he might help us obtain our objectives. What does it matter if we have been improper or not? We are a household and we determined collectively what’s greatest for the membership and for the workforce.”
Barca are fifth within the standings with 35 factors after 21 video games, one level behind champions Atletico who’re fourth and have a poor file at Camp Nou – coach Diego Simeone has by no means received at Barcelona.
“I keep in mind when Xavi stated in a TV present again in 2016 that Atletico type of soccer was not for the massive groups,” Simeone instructed a information convention on Saturday.
“I do not see it as a scarcity of respect: when one has solely lived with one scenario in his life, he would not perceive one other.”
($1 = 0.8737 euros)
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru and Fernando Kallas in Madrid; modifying by Clare Fallon and Ed Osmond)
