There was some ?excellent news for Barcelona this morning, after the doctor who operated on Ousmane Dembele, Sakari Orava, explained to a Spanish radio station that the Frenchman’s recovery is going far better than anticipated.
According to Spanish publication ?Sport, Orava told La Graderia on Cadena SER: “The recovery is going quicker than expected. He already said he wanted to come back before the planned date, but we don’t know if that will be possible,”
And the doctor has not ruled out Dembele facing rivals Real Madrid in El Clasico on December the 23rd. While it may be a tall order, given he was expected to be out for at least four months after his hamstring injury obtained against Getafe on September 16th, Orava remains optomistic.
“Could he play against Madrid? Maybe, maybe… but I can’t assure you of anything,” he added.
Dembele has been working around the clock in order to come back as soon as possible after an injury sustained in only his fourth match in Barcelona colours, and it’s hoped that this month he will be training with the ball at his feet.
“Right now he is training in the sandpits that Barça have and I think that in the middle of November he’ll be able to touch a ball again,” Orava said.
After signing from Borussia Dortmund for an eye watering £96.8m, he had just started to flourish in his new surroundings before this injury curtailed his progress.
It’s fair to say Barcelona haven’t laboured in his absence, sitting atop of La Liga by four points after 11 games (and eight points clear of Real Madrid), but his reimergence into the side would certainly be a welcome bonus for El Clasico.
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