The departure of Neymar has left a gaping hole in Barcelona’s first-choice line-up. The Brazilian forward has joined Paris Saint-Germain in a world record-shattering €222m deal, for which the Blaugrana were evidently unprepared and unwilling to countenance the possibility of until its glaring reality slapped them in the face.
Several names have been mentioned in connection with a big-money switch to the Camp Nou to fill the former Santos star’s sizeable boots, with Antoine Griezmann, Paulo Dybala and Kylian Mbappé all listed as Barça targets.
But one player stands out above the others as the most logical – and most likely – to fill the conspicuous, Neymar-shaped gap in Ernesto Valverde’s side: Borussia Dortmund’s Ousmane Dembélé.
Barça were believed to be interested in Dembélé long before the whispers of Neymar’s exit emerged. They even tried to sign the youngster from Rennes before Dortmund snapped him up last summer.
The Barcelona board’s refusal to take the Neymar-to-PSG rumours seriously and therefore plan for the 25-year-old’s succession has only made their task of replacing the outgoing star all the more difficult. It was reported earlier this summer that provisional talks between Barça and Dortmund saw Dembélé branded with a €90m price tag.
Now, however, with the entire footballing world cognisant of Barcelona’s need for a top-class winger and aware of exactly how much they have in the coffers after PSG’s brash capture of Neymar, the Bundesliga side are demanding a staggering €150 million for the 20-year-old Frenchman – a figure which would make him the second-most expensive player in history.
But if that’s the kind of fee required to sign Dembélé, then Barcelona should pay it, as there is no player – not even any of the aforementioned global stars linked with a Camp Nou switch – who could ease the bitter blow of Neymar’s departure quite as much as the prodigious Dortmund forward.
Before attempting to identify a replacement for Neymar, it must first be pinpointed what exactly his loss takes away from Barcelona as a team. Some may look at Dembélé’s scoring record – he bagged 10 goals in 49 appearances last term – and deduce that he doesn’t offer enough of a goal threat to assume Neymar’s position on the left of what had been the most potent attacking trident in world football.
But goalscoring is a facet of Neymar’s game that had been de-emphasised last season, with the Brazilian’s contribution dropping from 39 in the treble-winning 2014/15 campaign and 31 the year after, to just 20 in 2016/17, only 13 of which came in La Liga.
Instead, his creativity and phenomenal ball progression became a crutch which propped up the Barça attack. Although the starting formation was nominally 4-3-3 for much of last season, Lionel Messi’s continued drift towards a more central role meant that Ivan Rakitić – or whoever else was stationed on the right of the midfield three – was edged closer to the touchline on that side, and Neymar’s starting position on the left dropped deeper, forming a kind of lopsided 4-4-2 in practice.
This moved Neymar further away from goal and, in turn, made him a more vital part of the Blaugrana’s transitions from defence to attack. He regularly carried the ball across the halfway line at speed; this kind of ball progression, which can come in the form of mesmerising dribbles or incisive forward passes, is perhaps what Barça will miss most.
Dembélé can offer a similar degree of dynamism and incision, more so than any other player linked with a big-money move to the Camp Nou this summer.
Above, in a recent friendly against Barcelona’s cross-city rivals Espanyol, we see Dembélé receive the ball in midfield. Already on the half-turn, the Frenchman’s primary aim here is to get his side higher up the pitch.
In approaching the Espanyol third directly, he engages three opponents, opening up space for supporting runs.
One such run comes from the right-back, who Dembélé picks out with a well-timed and accurate pass. This kind of progression is rendered useless if the player in question is unable to ensure possession is retained at the end of their move; the former Rennes youngster is already an expert at this.
Key to both Neymar and Dembélé’s effective ball progression is their other-worldly dribbling skills. The Brazilian produced a phenomenal return of 5.3 successful take-ons per 90 in La Liga last season, a figure no player in Europe’s major leagues – not even Messi – was able to match.
Dembélé, though, put up some pretty impressive numbers of his own in this department, averaging a Bundesliga-leading 4.5 accurate dribbles per 90. What makes the young France international such a gifted dribbler, aside from his speed and balance, is the fact that he is genuinely two-footed. This means he can move equally comfortably to either his right or left, showing none of the telltale signs that would ordinarily betray the direction in which a winger intends to dribble.
In the above image, taken from this summer’s International Champions Cup tie between Dortmund and Milan, we see Dembélé attacking down the right flank.
Rather than taking on the Milan full-back around the outside (the path marked out by the red arrow), he cuts inside onto his left foot. Here, he still has the option of picking out the centre-forward’s run with a through-ball (blue arrow), but continues further infield, opening up the possibility of a shooting chance. Where a more one-dimensional winger would have continued his run down the right, Dembélé’s ability to move either way laterally gave him three options in this instance.
Neymar’s creativity in the final third led to him accumulating 13 assists in La Liga last term and 27 in all competitions. As one of the most effective and consistent chance creators in the world, Luis Suárez and Messi, who both routinely break the 40-goal barrier, will feel the loss of their Brazilian former cohort.
This is why Dembélé is an essential purchase for Barça. The BVB wideman registered 21 assists in 49 games last season, conjuring opportunities for his colleagues in a wide variety of ways.
Above, we see Dembélé in action for France, fizzing an inch-perfect low cross to the far post with his right foot to offer Olivier Giroud an easy finish.
In this still, taken from Dortmund’s final Bundesliga game of 2016/17 against Werder Bremen, the Frenchman picks up the ball in a central zone between the opposition’s lines of defence and midfield and delicately chips a left-footed ball into the path of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who expertly volleys home.
Although he has spent much of his time with Dortmund on the right side of the attack, the young forward would have no issue being deployed on the left at the Camp Nou, while his versatility would afford Valverde the chance to experiment with different iterations of his attacking line-up.
They might well have to shatter their transfer record to get him, but signing Dembélé must be Barcelona’s priority before the transfer deadline, no matter the cost.
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