Although Philippe Coutinho is the talk of the town as Barcelona return to league action with Sunday’s home game against Levante, the more immediate focus will be on the progress of another hugely expensive signing: Ousmane Dembele.
This might be a strange thing to say about a player who cost a club record €147m, but the young French winger has become something of a forgotten man since suffering a hamstring injury in September’s meeting with Getafe.
But now he is back in action, playing for 25 minutes in the midweek cup draw against Celta Vigo and likely to receive a similar amount of playing time against Levante.
Of course, the return to fitness of a record signing is good news for Barca, and Dembele – even more than Coutinho – could help provide an attacking spark that has been missing for much of the campaign, which could prove especially important during the latter stages of the Champions League.
However, it’s equally true that being forced to accommodate Dembele could result in Barca losing the balance that has made them so successful, and the possibility that he will actually end up weakening the team – particularly in the short run – will be a significant concern for manager Ernesto Valverde.
Barca’s most important game of the season so far, and the contest which can be seen as the encapsulation of their brief Valverde era, was clearly the 3-0 Clasico victory over Real Madrid just before the Christmas break.
With the exception of injured centre-back Samuel Umtiti, Valverde fielded his strongest possible eleven in that fixture, with Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez in front of a midfield four containing Sergio Busquets and Ivan Rakitic in the middle, narrowly flanked by Andres Iniesta and Paulinho and most of the attacking width coming from full-backs Sergi Roberto and, especially, Jordi Alba.
Looking at that line-up, it’s difficult – if not impossible – to see how Dembele could fit in without significantly altering the shape and structure of the team.
The only slot he could really fill is the place currently occupied by Paulinho, but the powerful physicality of the Brazilian has been a key role in giving Barca the defensive stability which has seen them concede just seven goals in 17 league games so far.
Dembele would not be able to carry out anything like the same amount of defensive work as Paulinho, and he would also be hard pressed to quickly develop the same kind of understanding that the former Tottenham man has quickly struck up with Messi.
It will be interesting to see where Dembele fits in upon his return.
The versatility of the former Borussia Dortmund man provides options for Valverde, who noted at the youngster’s unveiling during the summer that he can play effectively through the middle or on either flank.
But that could also initially count against Dembele because at the moment even Valverde probably doesn’t know how he intends to use the 20 year-old, who could fit here, there and everywhere rather than commanding a specific position.
The best news for Dembele is that he is coming into a team with a commanding lead at the top of La Liga, so there is some margin for error and room for experimentation – if it takes a while for Valverde to work out how to get the best out of Dembele, and for the new arrival and his teammates get used to each other, a few dropped points can be tolerated.
But the pressure will really be on the winger to deliver the goods in the Champions League, with next month’s two-legged meeting with Chelsea providing the first major opportunity for him to start paying back his huge transfer fee.
So far this season, Barca have been effective but also pretty predictable, meaning that tactically minded managers like Antonio Conte wouldn’t have many problems in working out a plan to counteract them.
Dembele, however, is an unknown quantity for opponents as much as he is for Barca. With his ball skills and dribbling ability, he is the kind of player – like Neymar – who can destabilise an opposition defence by offering penetration into the penalty box, and his ability to deliver a sense of the unexpected will be a vital asset for a team which otherwise largely lacks that quality.
It’s possible, then, to see two sides of the coin. Dembele could prove to be an expensive misfit who unbalances the team’s previously solid structure, or a dynamic x-factor who transforms Barca’s attacking potential.
In fact, there’s every chance he could prove to be a bit of both.
