LaLiga: Barcelona confirm Dembele ready to play after injury spell

Ousmane Dembele is ready to return to action, after he was sidelined for three and a half months with a thigh problem, Barcelona have confirmed.

The 20-year-old sustained the problem against Getafe on September 16 and underwent an operation in Finland. But he has now been medically discharged and available for selection.

Barcelona manager, Ernesto Valverde, is hoping to give Dembele some minutes in Thursday’s Copa del Rey clash with Celta Vigo.

Surgeon Sakari Orava, who operated on Dembele, put the injury partly down to naivety on the winger’s part.

“Maybe it was a sin of youth not to say that he felt pain in that area before,” Orava told Mundo Deportivo.

“The pressure he’d been exposed to after his signing for Barca also could have influenced it.”

The France international moved to Barca for €105million from Borussia Dortmund last summer.