Dembele a better Barcelona signing than Lewandowski, says Braithwaite
FT Desk
- 10 Sept 2022 14:07 BST
- 3 min read
Robert Lewandowski has hit eight goals in five games since swapping Bayern Munich for Barcelona, but a man he replaced thinks Barca have a better player on their books in Ousmane Dembele.
Lewandowski was a €50 million arrival from Bayern this summer, and any doubts the 34-year-old could perform in a La Liga and the Champions League this season have been quickly dispelled.
This assist from Lewandowski 🔥 pic.twitter.com/UtXnfTjYpU
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) August 7, 2022
Lewy led a €160m influx at Camp Nou this summer, with Raphinha and Jules Kounde costing similar fees from Leeds and Sevilla respectively. But the Blaugrana also had to re-sign Dembele and Sergi Roberto after their contracts had expired.
With Barca scrambling to balance their books in order to register all of their new players for official games this season, Martin Braithwaite was one of those culled. The richest player at the club owing to his real estate interests, his contract was rescinded, allowing him to join Espanyol on a free.
Braithwaite scorned?
Sour grapes might be at play, but after Barca's 5-1 thrashing of Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League on Wednesday - in which Lewandowski and Dembele combined for the third goal, Braithwaite was left more impressed by the Frenchman.
"He makes the difference more than Lewandowski," the Dane told Catalan radio station RAC1. "Ousmane's a very good kid, I like him a lot. He has an enormous talent. I've never seen anything like it.
"[Lionel] Messi is something else, but I've never seen anyone like Ousmane."
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It is high praise for a player who is now up to five goal-involvement in five games in all competitions this season. His Barca coach Xavi was also full of praise.
"[Dembele] is happy, enjoying himself, content," he said. "He's important for me, for the group. He makes the difference, assists, scores, he is a knife in the opponent's side and he's in good form.
"I don't want to shower him in praise but the capacity he has in one-on-ones is at the level of the best Neymar."
