Blow For Barcelona As Dembele Out For Four Months

Barcelona football club have confirmed that the club’s record signing Ousmane Dembele will be sidelined for up to four months after rupturing a tendon in Saturday’s win at Getafe.

The Spanish club made the announcement on their official website on Sunday and it reads: “The tests have come back following first team player Ousmane Dembélé’s injury in the 29th minute of the Getafe match.

“Unfortunately, he has ruptured the tendon in his femoral bicep in his left thigh. The player will be operated on by Dr. Sakari Orava in Finland this week.

“He is expected to be out for between three and a half months and four months”.

The France international was making his first ever La Liga start at the Coliseum Alfonso Perez when he was forced off in the first half of the match with an injury.

This means the 20-year-old is unlikely to play for the Catalonia based club again until the New Year. Barca will also be without him for the remainder of the Champions League group stages, while it is also likely he will miss the first league El Clasico of the season against Real Madrid, which is scheduled for Dec. 23.

The news comes as a huge setback for the Barcelona manager, Ernesto Valverde, with the former Everton player Gerard Deulofeu and Paco Alcácer his only options up front to play with Luis Suárez and Lionel Messi.

Other options include Denis Suarez and Arda Turan, who remain at the club after a move to Galatasaray fell through at the last minute earlier this month.

But none of the alternative options offer the same pace and width as Dembele, which is something Barca boss had stressed he was keen to add to the squad following the loss of Neymar to PSG in August.