Ousmane Dembele claims to be unthreatened by the possibility of Neymar marking his return to Barcelona this summer.
His agent, Moussa Sissoko told RMC Sport, “When you are a high-level sportsman, you have to accept that you are praised but also subjected to criticism. [Dembele] is focused on his goals, and he knows what he has to do in order to succeed at Barca. He doesn’t feel at all threatened. When you play for Barca, you expect there to be competition. Neymar or anyone else – he does not care about that and [only] cares about what he has to do.”
Sissoko also revealed that while other clubs have enquired about his client, including PSG, Dembele has no wish to leave Barcelona just yet. “We received notice of interest from big clubs,” he continued. “But we were clear on the fact that he did not want to leave. I told them from the start that he wants to succeed at Barcelona. The door is closed, and Paris or any other club are aware of our intentions. In our plans, he wants to stay and all his work is towards that. We are working on that.”
Dembele is currently serving a spell on the sidelines with a hamstring injury. There have previously been controversies over his lifestyle of gaming late at night and staying out with his friends, even reporting late to training several times. His former chef told Le Parisien on Wednesday, “Ousmane is a good guy but he doesn’t have control of his life. He lives with his uncle and his best friend, who don’t dare say anything to him. It’s a crazy life. I’ve never seen him drink alcohol but he doesn’t respect his rest times, there’s no professional structure around him.”
Barcelona have tried to discipline the Frenchman before but his attitude is definitely a concern for the club. Sissoko defended his stance on the matter as he said, “I do not want to give an advertisement to the chef who criticised him. Ousmane chose him, and it’s me who stopped working with him because he didn’t correspond to what we wanted.”
