Less than 12 months ago, Ousmane Dembele was being targetted by the likes of Liverpool and Arsenal in the transfer market, before he stayed put and signed a new contract at Barcelona.
Since then, the 25-year-old has shone under the stewardship of Xavi Hernandez, despite Barcelona’s struggles, both on and off the field.
But, on Sunday, as France and Argentina traded blows in the World Cup final, Dembele had an evening he will never forget and all for the wrong reasons.
Outspoken TV pundit and former Manchester United midfielder Roy Keane described Dembele as ‘so silly’ after he gave away a penalty early in the first half during his side’s defeat in the World Cup final.
Whilst the game descended into utter chaos in the second half and then a penalty shootout, for Dembele, his game was over before he could get back to the changing rooms because Didier Deschamps hooked him off before the half-time break.
Nonetheless, whilst Roy Keane told ITV Sport that the awarding of the first spot-kick in Sunday’s World Cup final was ‘soft’, he still wasn’t too impressed by what he saw from Dembele.
“I think it’s a soft penalty, but sometimes you have to be punished for being so silly,” said Keane.
TOTTENHAM LINKED WITH DEMBELE
A fair few Tottenham players have had to deal with World Cup heartache during this past week, Hugo Lloris against Argentina, Harry Kane against France and Ivan Perisic losing out in the semi-finals.
But could a certain Barcelona whizkid join them in north London? There is talk of Spurs possibly looking at signing Dembele after his World Cup final horror show.
Previously, when Dembele was struggling at the Nou Camp, and the likes of Arsenal and Liverpool were sniffing around, he was happy to leave, so it will be interesting to see how he reacts now.
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