'We picked him instead of Mbappe' - former Barcelona director admits to transfer risk

Urban Ortega, one of the men responsible for bringing Ousmane Dembele to Barcelona, admits signing the Frenchman was a ‘risk’ because of his indiscipline.

Ortega was the right-hand man to former Barcelona sporting director Robert Fernandez and part of the process that brought Dembele to the Nou Camp from Borussia Dortmund in 2017.

Has Ousmane Dembele lived up to his potential? Five key things to know…

1. Dembele moved to Barcelona from Borussia Dortmund in 2017 for a reported €105 million.
2. There have been many concerns around his attitude, with Luis Suarez urging him to ‘focus on football’.
3. Dembele only featured in 23 games for Barcelona last season, scoring four goals.
4. After helping France to win the World Cup, the forward has improved this season, scoring eight goals in 17 games.
5. Urban Ortega has admitted Barca knew the risks before signing him but picked Dembele over Kylian Mbappe.

Since his reported €105m move, Dembele has often come under criticism for his behaviour, with the French international being known to turn up to training late after staying up, playing video games into the early hours of the morning.

This has lead to constant rumours regarding the long-term future of the 21-year-old, although Dembele looks much improved this season and has already scored eight goals in 19 for Barcelona this season.

But, despite that upturn in form, Ortega has admitted the club was well aware of the risks surrounding Dembele and his entourage.

“We already knew about how he was and about his entourage,” Ortega recalled in an interview with Catalan radio programme, Esports Cope (via AS).

“In fact, he had already had problems at Rennes, where he didn’t want to sign the professional contract at first. We had good information about him at the technical level and some facts about his indiscipline due to his youth and because of the people that surround him, which do not help him at times.”

“We had that information, but in the end you have to take risks and you think that since he’s young, he can turn the situation around.”

Did Barcelona miss out on Kylian Mbappe?

Ortega then went on to talk about the process of bringing Dembele to Barcelona, which he claims also involved taking a look at Kylian Mbappe, who is now at Paris Saint-Germain and played a starring role in France’s 2018 World Cup win.

He added: “Not only were there the options of Dembélé and Mbappé, there were some more. In the end, because of different circumstances, you have to decide on one.”

The Blaugrana are currently three points clear at the top of the La Liga table and travel to sixth-place Levante on Sunday.

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