Dembele: It’s better Mbappe rejected Real Madrid

6 Sep 2022 16:52 CDT
3 min read

Ousmane Dembele Barcelona 2022-23 — © ProShots

Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele has admitted it was better for his club that Kylian Mbappe turned down Real Madrid.

Mbappe was believed to be heading to Madrid when his contract at Paris Saint-Germain expired in the summer but the Frenchman opted to renew his contract with the Ligue 1 side instead.

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The talismanic forward was believed to have signed terms that will see him earn more than €250 million over his three-year deal as well as have more say in PSG’s sporting direction.

Mbappe has already been linked to another move to Real once his new deal expires in 2025 but Dembele is uncertain whether his French compatriot will eventually end up in Spain.

“It’s better for Barcelona that Mbappe stayed in Paris,” Dembele said. “It’s his boyhood club, and he likes it there. I don’t know if he’d move to La Liga in the future.”

Dembele: I always wanted to stay at Barca

Dembele was speaking after committing his future to Barcelona in the summer, having previously been expected to leave upon the expiry of his contract.

But the former Dortmund man insisted that he had always planned to remain with the club despite the speculation surround him.

He said: “I always told Xavi that I wanted to continue here. It took a long time because of negotiations, but I always said that I wanted to continue at Barça and in the end, we are all happy.

“I never had a pre-agreement with any other club. I told my agent to only listen to Barça. I never feared that I wasn’t going to renew. I knew I was, plus I have a good relationship with Xavi and the board.”

Dembélé: "I've been working a lot with my physiotherapist and the club's staff, who are very good. I learned that the key is to work outside of the pitch. If you don't do that, you'll be injured for sure. That's what happened to me when I was 20. I didn't work on prevention." pic.twitter.com/iqIkTzLMYx
— Barça Universal (@BarcaUniversal) September 6, 2022

Dembele also revealed he feared getting injured ‘after every turn’ at one point after his injury-plagued history but believes the club is in good hands after their summer business, including the signing of striker Robert Lewandowski.

“Since the first time he saw me, Lewandowski told me: ‘You’re gonna give me lots of assists,” Dembele said.

“Raphinha and Lewandowski are very good and will bring a lot. The competition in the team is very good,”