BARCELONA are determined to deal with Ousmane Dembele’s off-pitch problems and have instructed him not to turn his phone off or leave it on silent during the night.
The French wonderkid has been in trouble with Barcelona chiefs recently for his antics, but they are now giving him strict instructions as they look to get the best out of him.
Dembele’s struggles have been well documented; last week he was fined £90,000 for turning up two hours’ late to training and had previously arrived late for a match, skipped a team meeting and missed a training session.
But despite the disciplinary problems, the France attacker is in fine form and has the full-backing of his team-mates.
According to Marca, the club are on a mission to crack down on Dembele and want to curb his late night video-game sessions and his binge-watching of television shows.
The first step to ensuring his antics don’t interfere with his job is to ban him from turning his phone off, or putting it on silent, so that he cannot sleep through his alarm after a late night.
Barca are keen to keep the 21-year-old in the fold, rather than isolate him from the squad as he has scored eight times from 13 appearances.
His team-mates are also hoping to do all they can to help guide the young winger, as Lionel Messi even stating “we need Dembele.”
Club legend Gerard Pique has also jumped to the forward’s defence, believing that the Frenchman just needs some guidance.
He said: “We have to help Dembele to see that football is 24 hours. You have to live it from the first minute to the last. All his teammates are here to help him… we’ve all been young and we’ve all made mistakes.”
