Ousmane Dembele Nearing Barcelona Return Ahead of Champions League Last 16
Ousmane Dembele is in line to appear in Barcelona's Champions League last-16 tie against Chelsea as he continues to recover from a hamstring strain.
La Blaugrana boss Ernesto Valverde revealed that the French wonderkid could play some part against the reigning Premier League champions in just under two weeks' time if he fully recovers from his latest injury setback.
The Barca manager was quoted by AS after he was asked about Dembele's availability for the meeting with Antonio Conte's men and he admitted that it was a possibility that the 20-year-old would be on the bench at the very least.
He said: "He's O.K. He's started training sessions. I hope he can come back into the squad for next week."
Dembele had been sidelined for four months with a hamstring tear that he sustained just three weeks into his Barcelona career back in September.
The forward suffered a slight recurrence of the problem upon his return to the first-team fold in the 4-2 victory over Real Sociedad on 14th January, but is now edging his way back to full fitness.
Dembele will not be part of Barcelona's squad for Thursday's Copa del Rey semi-final second leg encounter with Valencia but may be available for the 17th February clash against Eibar.
If he manages to come through any part of that game unscathed then the ex-Borussia Dortmund and Rennes starlet could feature at some point against Chelsea in the first leg of that two-legged tie.
Dembele drew scorn from Die Borussen for the manner with which he forced through a £135m switch to Camp Nou last August as Barcelona sought a replacement for Neymar.
He made four appearances before spending the next 16 weeks on the treatment table with his hamstring issue and was ruled out of action again after the turn of the year following another four run outs for Valverde's men.
