LaLiga: Three reasons why Ousmane Dembele must play a key role this season for Barcelona

It was only last year when Barcelona made a certain 20-year-old fresh-faced Ousmane Dembele the second most expensive footballer in history after paying Borussia Dortmund £135.5m for his services.

It was a gargantuan step up for the talented French winger who just 12 months earlier was plying his trade with Nantes in Ligue 1. The move was largely unexpected, and Dembele must have felt the shock as much as the rest of us, failing to control his nerves in an embarrassing unveil at the Camp Nou where he failed to execute even the most basic of 'kick-ups'.

It got worse for the World Cup winner, as he ruptured his hamstring on his full La Liga debut against Getafe in September less than three weeks after his record-breaking transfer.

The injury cost him three months on the sideline, while another injury setback in January meant that Dembele ended his first full season at Camp Nou without the fans truly witnessing the best of his abilities.

Last season ended with doubts cast over his participation at the World Cup, although he ultimately partook in France's winning effort albeit with a limited contribution.

The summer arrival of Malcom for £36.5m from Bordeaux and Coutinho's club record signing from Liverpool for £142m last January further pushed Dembele down the pecking order, and there were strong indications that Barcelona were willing to count their losses and ship him off from the club.

Dembele reportedly expressed his displeasure at the club's decision to sign Malcom, and his agent suggested his client would leave Barcelona, but Ernesto Valverde expressed his desire to work with Dembele, and a change in the winger's situation was experienced.

Dembele has kicked off the season in spectacular fashion, scoring the winning goal of Barcelona's 2-1 Super Cup victory over Sevilla in Morocco, and played for 75 minutes before being replaced by new signing Arthur to a standing ovation in Barcelona's La Liga opening day 3-0 victory over Alaves at Camp Nou.

He was handed another start by Valverde on matchday 2 away to Real Valladolid, and repaid his coach's faith by scoring the winner after a beautifully placed finish off a headed cutback by Sergi Roberto in Barcelona's 1-0 victory.

The indications are there that Dembele could play a starring role this season, and here are three reasons why Valverde should place more responsibility on Dembele's young shoulders.

#3 The hunger to prove his mettle

Dembele is yet to prove himself at Barcelona

Barcelona is unarguably one of the biggest clubs in the world, possessing numerous world class players who are among the best in their respective positions.

With 90 major trophies won, FC Barcelona is the most successful club in European footballing history, and all the historical records attached to the club ensures that any player who proves himself with the Blaugrana is guaranteed legendary status in the annals of football.

As stated earlier, a combination of factors with injuries being the most prominent one contrived to rob Ousmane Dembele of a productive debut season, and after one year at the club, the jury is still out on him over his effectiveness, as fans haven't seen enough to adequately judge his capabilities.

However, despite all his setbacks, Dembele is an extremely talented footballer, make no mistake about that; we saw evidence of this with his displays for Dortmund in the Bundesliga (which were convincing enough to make Barcelona shell out such a princely sum). There have also been sporadic flashes of it in his hampered Barca career.

Ousmane Dembele is very much a man on a mission, and this desire to prove himself at Barcelona could spark a hunger which would raise his performance levels, ultimately benefiting Barcelona if he is given a chance to fulfill his mission.

#2 He is a viable alternative for goals

Dembele has scored two goals already this season

In Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, Barcelona has two of the most lethal forwards ever seen, and the pair combined with Neymar to form the deadly 'MSN' trio scoring a staggering 250 goals in 299 appearances between them in all competitions during the three years they spent together.

Neymar's world record transfer to PSG in August 2017 broke up the triumvirate, and this had a telling effect on Barcelona, as the Brazilian is one of the most lethal attacking threats in the world.

The club's goals department took an expected hit with Neymar's departure, as the Camp Nou outfit scored just 99 La Liga goals last term compared to the 116 goals scored in Neymar's last season at the club in 2017.

Messi is a prime goalscorer in his own right, and the mercurial Argentine holds the record for most European Golden Shoes won with five, however, he is also the world's premier creator, and the decline in Barcelona's midfield prowess owing to the departures of Xavi and Iniesta has continuously seen Messi drop deeper in an attempt to initiate play from midfield. This has conversely led to a decrease in Messi's goal tally, which though are still impressive enough to win him Golden Boots, are significantly lower than the figures he posted earlier in his career.

Also, Luis Suarez for all his brilliance is starting to show signs of struggles. He underwent a goal drought of 479 minutes in all competitions without scoring last season, while he went over a year without getting a Champions League goal for Barcelona between their 6-1 comeback triumph over PSG in 2017 and their 4-1 quarter-final first leg victory over Roma in March 2018.

While there is no denying that on his day he can still guarantee the goals, a club of Barcelona's stature requires its strikers to be firing on all cylinders in at least every other game to remain competitive, and this is where Ousmane Dembele could come in.

Although it would be foolish to put him in the same bracket as Neymar, the 21-year-old is still a decent attacker in his own right. He scored a total of 10 goals in 50 appearances for Dortmund in his sole season with them, and is a pretty good provider of assists.

Dembele could help ease the pressure of goalscoring from Messi and Suarez, as he has shown so far this season that he has the capacity to pop up with the odd match-winning goal, and at just 21, there is massive room for improvement, and Valverde would do well to give the pacy winger the platform to do so.

#1 He offers a diversity to Barcelona's game

Dembele is a pacy winger

Barcelona's unprecedented success over the last 15 years has been largely built on a possession-based tiki-taka style of football.

While this brand of football has won the club numerous titles, its predictable nature means that when teams find them out (albeit very rarely), Barcelona do not have an alternative plan, and find themselves passing the ball around and sideways without any real penetration rather frustratingly to their fans.

Ousmane Dembele would help counter the threat of teams who sit deep and allow Barcelona have possession, as his pacy nature and direct running style offers Barcelona an alternative attacking option, giving opposition managers a different threat to worry about.

Most of Barcelona's signings in the last couple of seasons have sought to address the one-dimensional nature of the club's play, with Arturo Vidal, Paulinho, Malcom and to a lesser extent Phillippe Coutinho all antithesis of Barcelona's patient building style, and in Dembele, they have a reliable counter-attacking weapon, which Valverde could use to devastating effect.