BARCELONA
Dembélé cuts vacation short and starts training in Barcelona
The French World Cup winner wants to get started earlier than he was supposed to after the signing Malcom as his direct competition for a spot in the team.
Ousmane Dembélé landed in Barcelona on Friday and showed up at the Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper on Saturday morning to do a training sesssion, which took management by surprise. The French World Cup winner was not due back until August 12th having been granted extra vacations due to France's exploits in Russia.
Dembélé, together with Rakitic, Vermaelen and Umtiti are the players granted extended vacations as they were in the World Cup the longest. The Belgian played in the third place playoff against England the day before the World Cup final and the other three were in the tourament's decider.
However, Dembélé cut his vacation short in order to put his name forward for a place in Ernesto Valverde's squad to play Sevilla in Tangier in the Spanish Super Cup final on August 12th. The signing of Malcom seems to have created a competition on the right wing and the French man wants to improve after a first season beset with injuries and inconsistency. Malcom has started the tour well with Ernesto Valverde particularly happy with his impact.
Ter Stegen also decided to shorten his vacation voluntarily and joined the US tour in Dallas
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