Tottenham’s Champions League opponents lose key player.
The French wonderkid improves Barcelona’s attacking options, but it takes away a player from Dortmund who scored 10 goals and provided 21 assists last season.
For Tottenham Hotspur this has suddenly become a piece of good news, after they were drawn to play against the German side in yesterday’s Champions League draw.
Spurs are likely to be battling with Dortmund and Juventus for two knockout spots, with APOEL the fourth team in the group.
Dortmund having to do without Dembele makes Tottenham’s two matches against the Bundesliga side that little bit easier.
Peter Bosz’s side will have £110 million at their disposal, but they are also inheriting Barcelona’s problem after selling Neymar, that teams vastly inflate their demands when they come calling, and it becomes difficult to buy players.
German teams rarely do big business at the end of the transfer window, approaching it culturally very differently to the mad rush usually seen in English football.
It would be a surprise if Dortmund improve their team dramatically that offsets Dembele’s loss within the next week.
Tottenham will not have it easy against a side who won their last Bundesliga game 3-0 away at Wolfsburg without Dembele at the weekend, but his departure has to be taken as a positive for Mauricio Pochettino’s team as they look for small advantages to get out of what will be a tightly contested Chamions League group.
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