Barcelona’s £135million signing Dembele suffers fresh injury blow

Ousmane Dembele has had a nightmare start to his Barcelona career

Barcelona winger, Ousmane Dembele is facing another month on the sidelines after suffering a fresh hamstring injury.

The 20-year-old France international picked up the problem during Sunday’s 4-2 victory over Real Sociedad, where he appeared as a second-half substitute.

Dembele had only recently returned from almost four months out after suffering a hamstring injury against Gefafe in September, in what was just his third appearance for Barca following his then-club record move rom Borussia Dortmund.

Both injuries have affected Dembele’s left leg but Barca say the new problem does not affect the previous one, which saw the former Rennes forward undergo surgery in Finland.

A club statement read: “The victory at Anoeta on Sunday has brought bad news in the shape of an injury to Ousmane Dembele.

“After the game against Real Sociedad, Dembele had a problem with his left thigh and tests have confirmed that the player has suffered a hamstring injury of the semitendinosus muscle that does not affect the area operated on earlier in the season.

“The injury will mean he will be out for a period of around three to four weeks.”

Dembele became the second most expensive player in history when Barca recruited him by investing almost half the £200.6million they received from Neymar’s move to Paris St Germain earlier in the summer.

The fee could end up rising to £135.5m, but that deal was eclipsed last week by Barca’s swoop for Liverpool playmaker Philippe Coutinho, which could end up costing the Catalan giants £142m.

Coutinho may not be able to make his Barca debut until next month due to a thigh injury which saw him miss Liverpool’s opening two games of 2018.