Former Chelsea winger Shaun Wright-Phillips has claimed that Ousmane Dembele could be a “massive player” for the Blues if they can sign him.
The 25-year-old will be a free agent this summer, and there were reports that the Barcelona winger has rejected all contract offers from the Catalan club and that the west London club is his preferred destination next season.
Barca want to keep the France international, with Xavi making U-turn from his plans to sell him in January because he has been instrumental to the club this season.
Since he made his first La Liga appearance in November, they have risen from seventh to second.
In an interview that has been relayed by football.london, Wright-Phillips believes he can have a similar impact at Stamford Bridge, provided he doesn’t get injured.
“Ousmane Dembele is a fantastic footballer.
“It’s just about whether his body can handle the physicality of the Premier League and if he can play a consistent run of games because he’s had so many injuries. If Chelsea can keep him fit then he’ll be a massive player for them.”
Our Thoughts on Wright-Phillips Dembele Claims
The £27m-rated winger always has had talent, something that can be seen in the way he has been spoken about at Camp Nou.
Josep Bartomeu, former Barca president, declared in 2019 that “Dembele is better than Neymar”, while in the same season former teammate Lionel Messi called him a “phenomenon”.
“On the pitch [Dembele] is a phenomenon and it depends on him.
“He has all the opportunity in the world to do what he wants. He can be one of the best.”
However, he has not always shown this ability on the pitch, and injuries have been a factor in this. While the 2018 World Cup winner has been in Spain, he has missed 102 games due to medical issues.
However, only four of these have been since he returned to Xavi’s side, which has allowed the £287k-per-week forward to perform to the levels that his potential promised.
He leads La Liga’s playmaking charts with 13 assists (also scoring one goal), his WhoScored league rating of 7.46 can only be beaten in Spain by Karim Benzema and Vinicius Jr, and the former Borussia Dortmund winger is in the top 1% in his position across Europe’s top 5 leagues for assists, crosses, dribbles, and progressive carries.
When you have the chance to get a player of Dembele’s quality, especially for free, then it is worth the injury risks.
AND in other news, Tuchel dealt Chelsea transfer blow over “special” £54m-rated target…