Dembele has Barcelona wish granted

berlin — Fleet-footed winger Ousmane Dembele has finally been granted his dream move to Barcelona as Borussia Dortmund pocket a massive transfer fee for the precocious French talent.

Having forced Dortmund’s hand by going on strike and refusing to train, the German club were left with little choice but to suspend the temperamental 20-year-old and eventually sell him to the Spanish giants.

The 105 million euros ($125 million) set to be forked out by Barcelona, not including potential add-ons, on Friday dwarfs the 15m euros Dortmund paid Rennes for Dembele in July 2016.

The high-profile move on a fiveyear deal means Dembele will fill the boots of his idol, Neymar, as Barcelona look to bolster their attack after the Brazilian’s record move to Paris Saint-Germain.

Dembele joined Rennes’ academy when he was 13 and having made his first team debut in November 2015, his silky skills combined with sudden bursts of pace and lethal crosses quickly dazzled defences.

Barely into his teenage years at the time, Dembele said his inspirations were Lionel Messi and Neymar — the former will be his new team-mate and the latter is the man he is replacing.

“They’re great players. I try to follow their games and copy what they do in training,” said a youthful Dembele while still at Rennes.

The 2015/16 season saw Dembele make his breakthrough, scoring 12 times in 26 games for Rennes in the French league and setting up five goals.

In March 2016, he scored a hat-trick in the derby against Nantes in a 4-1 win just a couple months shy of his 18th birthday.

The French club’s then sports director Mikael Silvestre compared Dembele to Cristiano Ronaldo.

“I saw Cristiano Ronaldo arrive at the same age at Manchester United and Ousmane has the same characteristics which remind me of young Cristiano,” said Silvestre.

“A talent like Dembele doesn’t come along every season. You are lucky if you have one every 10 years.” —