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Barcelona's Ousmane Dembele's Ankle Injury vs. Leganes Diagnosed as Sprain

Gianni Verschueren

Barcelona's Ousmane Dembele suffered a sprained left ankle in Sunday's 3-1 La Liga win over Leganes, with further testing scheduled for Monday.

The youngster scored in the contest but landed awkwardly on his ankle in the second half and was unable to continue:

The 21-year-old was able to walk on the ankle, but the injury looked bad. Coupled with his body language and potential knee damage, some feared the worst:

Dembele has been through a rollercoaster of a season so far. The former BorussiaDortmund man found himself out of the starting XI on a regular basis early in the campaign, and there were several off-the-pitch incidents that made him a frequent target for the Spanish media. His tardiness in particular was an issue, per RAC1 (h/t Moises Llorens of AS).

That led to plenty of transfer speculation, and Mundo Deportivo (via Football.London's Rob Guest) linked him to Arsenal at one point.

The speedster has overcome all of those issues to assume a starring role with the team, however, scoring three goals in his last two outings. He has proved a perfect partner for Lionel Messi, with his mobility and dribbling ability creating tons of space for the Argentinian.

That dribbling ability was on display on Sunday:

Malcom replaced Dembele on Sunday, and if the Frenchman misses a significant amount of time, the Brazilian would likely be the biggest beneficiary. The summer arrival hasn't seen much playing time yet, but that could be about to change.

Philippe Coutinho can also expect more starts in an advanced role, teaming up with Messiand Luis Suarez in attack.

Dembele's debut campaign at the Camp Nou was disrupted by injury, and it would be a cruel twist for the talent should health once again undermine his efforts this year.

   

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