Valverde suggests inexperience behind Dembele's four-month layoff
Dembele will undergo surgery on Tuesday on a ruptured tendon
It's unlikely he will play against for Barcelona for the rest of the year
Barcelona coach Ernesto Valverde spoke in his news conference on Monday ahead of the league game against Eibar about the injury to Ousmane Dembele.
The club's record signing was taken off after just 25 minutes against Getafe and is set for a four month spell out of action -- he will undergo surgery in Finland on a ruptured tendon on Tuesday.
"It’s the hardest thing for a player. If you get injured and are out for a long time and you can't help the team... you need to be patient," Valverde said.
"Ousmane is a youngster and this is another difficulty he will need to deal with in his career. Everybody in some way or another has to deal with these problems in their career, wherever it’s muscles, knees… You have to look long-term, think about your comeback and we are all here to help and support him."
Asked about who could replace Dembele in the side, Valverde said "we have various players, Deulofeu, Aleix Vidal, Denis Suarez, Andre Gomes..."
The coach also suggested that a more experienced player may not have picked up the injury: "When players are warming up they stretch knees, thighs, quads…
"He’s a player who has never had muscle problems in the past, so perhaps he doesn’t have the experience to recognise little niggles that could be worse in the long term.
"Because he’s a fast player it’s the movement he did which is the worst thing for the muscle. A more experienced player may have known not to do it [make the movement]."
