Barcelona’s new recruit, Ousmane Dembele, has revealed why he skipped training at Borussia Dortmund, to seal a transfer to Barcelona this summer.
Dembele, who completed a move worth €105 million to the Camp Nou said he was never going to turn down the La Liga giants after he snubbed them last summer.
“I’d been a professional at Rennes for just six months. Can you imagine? Just six months!
“Of course (it was too soon). I wanted to learn, play Champions League games, know what that competition was, to play a whole season with a big team, playing regularly, developing.
“I would have learned a lot in training but it would have halted my progression. Luckily Barcelona have come back for a second time and this time I could not let the train pass.”
Dembele also insisted that he has no regrets for forcing the move through.
“I was relaxed. It was a question of negotiation between Barca and Borussia. I knew I had to have patience,” he said.
“I decided to stop going to training. I didn’t want to go. I looked for an excuse not to go. If it didn’t work out and I hadn’t done my part to get the move to Barca, now I would be lamenting the fact I wasn’t here.”