Lionel Messi, Barcelona Reportedly Planning To Replace Diminishing Forward

Lionel Messi and the Barcelona board are reportedly planning to replace a diminishing star forward due to a series of setbacks.

Barcelona decided to sign Ousmane Dembélé after Neymar Junior left the club for a record-breaking deal with Paris Saint Germain. The Catalan club considered the then 20-year-old Borussia Dortmund forward to be the perfect substitute for Neymar in the hope to have him contribute the same way as the Brazilian star.

However, Dembélé have not lived up to the hype as he has not made much of an impact for the club. Dembélé’s career has been hindered with several setbacks one after the other. Numerous reports claimed that the board has also grown tired over the Frence forward and they are now finally considering selling Dembele to generate funds for their major signings this summer.

According to Don Balon via Everything Barca, Barcelona has already found their replacement for their “flop signin.” It is said that the club considered signing the 23-year-old Kingsley Coman , a seasoned forward who has gained a lot of experience playing for the biggest clubs across Europe’s top 5 leagues Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus and Bayern Munich. What’s even more notable about Coman is that he won the domestic league in all the three different teams he has played for.

Aside from Coman, recent reports also states that Messi has now voiced out about the player he wants to replace Dembele . Diario Gol via Palying For 90, the Argentine superstar is now desperate for his club to sign Neymar back from PSG.

Sources claim that Messi, along with other Barcelona stars including Gerard Pique and Luis Suarez are concerned with Dembélé’s inefficiency.

Barcelona believes Dembélé's poor diet could be the reason behind his injury woes. It will be remembered that the youngster first suffered a muscle injury during Barcelona's Champions League clash against Borussia Dortmund back in November, which was expected to keep him out for two months.

Dembélé managed to bounce back earlier than expected but due to the coronavirus pandemic caused a further setback upon his return to first team training. He is now likely to be out until at least August depending on when the league resumes after the coronavirus crisis.

After all, there is still a chance for Dembélé to stay at Camp Nou as Daily Mail recently reported that clubs reject the chance to buy him for just £52 million ($65,300,000)

Dembélé have scored a total of 19 goals and made 17 assists in 74 games for the club.