In recent times, Dembele's performance has clearly picked up, and he has scored assists twice in many games. According to Opta' statistics, Dembele has delivered nine assists in all competitions so far, including seven in La Liga. His expectations for the same period were only 3.6 times, 3.4 times higher than expected. In addition, of all La Liga players, Dembele's actual assists in 2022 is the largest difference between the number of assists expected.
Obviously, Dembele's latest wave of "king explosion" performance has greatly exceeded the expectations of the outside world. La Masia's veteran Traore was stunning when he first joined, and the nickname "Mei Xi" was given the nickname "Mei Xi" for his unreasonable breakthrough on the wing, which also made Dembele's position more and more embarrassing, and Barca fans began to accept the fact that he left the team freely after the season.
But in recent times, that "glass man" has become a veritable "king of the ball" and has become Harvey's most trusted choice in the right winger position. 4-0 Athletic Bilbao, Dembele came off the bench to send 1 goal and 1 assist, one hand directed the team's big win; 4-0 Osasuna, Dembele sent 2 assists; 4-0 victory over Real Madrid, Dembele on the wing to complete the explosion of Nacho, again assisted twice.
Compared with Traore, Dembele won all aspects except for his lack of physical confrontation ability, and it was a complete victory. Traore was just a "fresh move" on the flank, using the shaking to speed up the bottom cross. When I first returned to Barca, this trick was tried and tested. However, with the attention of the opponent and the increase in the intensity of the defense, the role of Traore has declined significantly. Continuing to use this trick has become unreasonable, and the number of goals conceded has begun to increase.
Dembele's left and right foot abilities are quite balanced, and he can also cross from the bottom, and the accuracy of the cross is higher. In addition, he can hold the ball inside and send fatal passes or shots. His tactical role is much richer than that of Traore, making opponents invincible.
Therefore, seeing Dembele's highlight performance in the recent period, the voice calling for Barca to quickly renew his contract began to rise. But some people disagreed, and he advised Barca not to renew Dembele's contract. who? Or the "thunderbolt fire" Stoichkov who has always been unaccustomed to Dembele.
"I'm not going to renew Dembele's contract. If he wants to renew his contract, then he should say he wants to stay now. He doesn't know the history of the club and there have been two or three games in which he has performed well. He has this strength and we have to make the most of him until his contract expires. Harvey's message has been passed on to the players, who are like playing at home. ”
"This game (Barca away 4-0 Real Madrid) will be remembered for a long time. It was a well-rounded game in every way, with Xavi beating Carlo Ancelotti in everything, physically, tactically and mentally. I watched the warm-ups of the two teams, and their mental outlooks were completely different, some were very focused, others were talking and laughing. ”
Stoichkov's character is as strong as ever, and Dembele's good performance has not changed the perception of him. However, such a view has also been recognized by many Barça fans, and some statements are also very representative.
"Nothing was wrong with it! It's just Dembele in the contract year, and he has to continue to mess up after the contract extension. "Deeply believed! The old man hit the nail on the head! Dembele just played a few good games and doesn't represent his professionalism. Moreover, this person has a bad deed before, you dare to give him a high salary, he dares to lie flat immediately. ”
Barca's godfather Cruyff once said: "When you are hesitant to play for Barca, you should leave." "It's true that there is a contract year in football. When a player's contract is about to expire, players tend to perform very differently in order to get more negotiated capital when the contract is renewed. After the renewal of the contract, the player's purpose was achieved, and the performance began to "return to normal", which was applied to Dembele without any sense of violation.
We know that since joining Barca in the summer of 2017, Dembele's professional attitude has been criticized, his performance has never met expectations, and he has not seen his determination to try to prove himself. Now that the contract is about to expire, asking for an annual salary at the Golden Globe level at the instigation of the agent is itself a "non-professional" performance. In order to get his wish, Dembele had to try to find chips on the field. But "the country is easy to change the nature is difficult to move", after getting a high salary, Dembele really has the possibility of lying flat.
As Stoichkov said, Dembele did not know the history of Barca at all. Barca's revival needs players with a passion, not a sharp one. Although the contract extensions of Araujo and Garvey were not smooth, the players were bent on staying at Barca and performing as hard as ever, and the salary requirements were reasonable. And Dembele is asking for a price in the sky, Barca is just a platform for him to chase high salaries, and the highest price in the end.
And it is also important to note that if Dembele's high salary requirements are met, then the efforts that Barca executives have been trying to control the salary system will be in vain. The next time other players talk about contract extensions, they will certainly follow suit, the difficulty of renewing contracts has increased sharply, and there is no need to ruin a team for one person.