Barcelona’s new signing, Ousmane Dembele, has explained why he skipped training at Borussia Dortmund, to seal a transfer to Barcelona this summer.
Dembele has since completed a move worth €105 million to the Camp Nou and reveals that he was never going to turn down the La Liga giants, after he snubbed them last summer.
“I’d been a professional at Rennes for just six months. Can you imagine? Just six months!” he told Sport when probed on why he rejected Barca’s advances.
“Of course [it was too soon]. I wanted to learn, play Champions League games, know what that competition was, to play a whole season with a big team, playing regularly, developing..
“I would have learned a lot in training but it would have halted my progression. Luckily Barcelona have come back for a second time and this time I could not let the train pass.”
Dembele also insists he has no regrets for forcing the move through.
“I was relaxed. It was a question of negotiation between Barca and Borussia. I knew I had to have patience,” he said.
“I decided to stop going training. I didn’t want to go. I looked for an excuse not to go. If it didn’t work out and I hadn’t done my part to get the move to Barca, now I would be lamenting the fact I wasn’t here.”
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