Barcelona winger Ousmane Dembele says he's "wasted five years" trying to deal with his various injury problems but dismisses suggestions he has spent too much time partying.
The 25-year-old has been producing some impressive form at Camp Nou this season after working his way back into first team plans under boss Xavi. Dembele has already made eight appearances this term, scoring twice, almost as many as he managed in the entire 2019/20 season.
It's been a difficult road for the Frenchman since his transfer to Barca from Borussia Dortmund in 2017 for an initial £96.8million. His off-field conduct came under scrutiny frequently as he failed to live up to his price tag, though places blame for all his struggles on his rotten luck with injuries.
"From 2017 to 2021 I wasted my time enormously," he told RMC Sport . "I have lost five years of my life. I had to work to be able to play, to be healthy and to be able to perform little by little.
"I've had a lot of hamstring injuries. The trainers insisted to me that if I didn't work more, I was going to relapse. With [Ronald] Koeman I started to improve and with Xavi it has gone better. When I came to Barca I was younger, of course I went out, but not as much as people say or as people imagine."
Dembele's lifestyle was continually called into question after several late showings for training in the early days of his Barcelona career. Reports suggested club chiefs were 'concerned' about their mega-money signing - who was bought to replace Neymar, amid accusations Dembele was consuming a poor diet and indulging in the city's nightlife too much.
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One incident which came to light was when Dembele called in sick to training half an hour after the session was due to start. A club doctor then visited Dembele's house and found several of his friends sleeping at the property around midday, while he found nothing wrong with the player's health despite his complaints of being ill. Other reports suggested Dembele would skip training after playing video games into the early hours.
While Dembele concedes he spent some time painting the town red, his injury record is difficult to overlook for his problems in Catalonia. He ruptured a tendon in only his third match and made just 23 appearances over the entire campaign as injuries blighted his start.
After flying out of the traps the following campaign with a glut of goals, Dembele then faced more injury issues and eventual heartache as he missed Barcelona's run-in, including the famous Champions League semi-final secong leg against Liverpool and the Copa Del Rey final.
As Dembele explained, it was not until Koeman was put in charge ahead of the 2020/21 campaign that he really put a solid run of games and form together, though his performances had still not justified Barcelona's financial outlay. It looked as though they might never recoup their spend when he stalled over signing a new contract in the summer, but eventually put pen to paper on a new deal on reduced terms.
Xavi now appears to be getting the best out of his forward, telling Sport after Dembele provided two assists in the 5-1 Champions League win over Viktoria Plzen earlier this month: "He is happy, enjoying himself, content, he is important for me, for the group… He makes the difference, assists, scores, he is a knife and he is in a good moment.
"I don't want to shower him in praise but the capacity he has in the one-on-one is at the level of the best Neymar. He has to be more bold, shoot at goal more and score. He is a good kid and he has to take advantage of these characteristics. He is capable of making the difference and he is doing so."
Dembele is currently on duty with the France squad for their two Nations League fixtures this month after earning a recall by boss Didier Deschamps, and now looks likely to be included in plans for the World Cup in Qatar later this year.
