French football fans should have more patience with Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele, according to Blaise Matuidi.
The winger joined Barcelona in 2017 from Borussia Dortmund for a reported £96.8m but his first season with the Blaugrana was underwhelming with injury problems and a lack of faith from Ernesto Valverde hampering the year.
As a result, Dembele missed out on vital football to ready himself for the World Cup, with the 21-year-old starting just twice and playing two minutes past the group stage.
But, according to Matuidi, France are satisfied with the youngster’s performances and it is up to the older players to ensure he improves.
“I don’t want to say that [Dembele] faces big difficulties – he does good things and he does bad things, like everyone else,” he said (via Goal).
“He is young and we expect a lot from him because he has a lot of talent. But we are pleased with his performances. He can improve but so can everyone else. The most experienced players are there to give him advice.
“He is at a club that will allow him to improve. He has taken it to the next level if we compare to last year. He started very well at Barcelona at a club where there is a lot of competition. The future is ahead of him.
“You shouldn’t be too hard with him. He can still do great things. He’s going to help us, that’s for sure.”
Dembele has been a regular feature for Barcelona this season, starting nine of his 10 appearances across all competitions – though he has finished just one match so far.
As a result, Dembele is part of the current France squad set to take on Germany in the Uefa Nations League on Tuesday.
Dembele’s international career so far
The exciting youngster made his France senior debut in September 2016, coming on as a late substitute for Antoine Griezmann in a 3-1 friendly win over Italy.
Since then, Dembele has earned 19 caps in total, though scoring just two goals. Dembele did start the opening game at the World Cup for France, a 2-1 win over Australia but was dropped to the bench for the next match against Peru.
Another start in the dead rubber against Denmark would be the winger’s last meaningful contribution, playing just two minutes in the quarter-final against Uruguay for the rest of the tournament.
The post Don’t be too hard on Ousmane Dembele – Blaise Matuidi appeared first on Squawka News.
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