Arsenal have been dealt a boost on the eve of their Champions League clash against Paris Saint-Germain after Luis Enrique confirmed Ousmane Dembélé has been left out of his squad.
Dembélé has scored four times in six Ligue 1 matches for PSG this season and played in the French club’s Champions League opening-match win against Girona earlier this month. But the PSG manager revealed the 27-year-old France international, seen as the club’s biggest asset in the post-Kylian Mbappé era, has not travelled to London.
It was reported in the French media that Dembélé had a disagreement with Luis Enrique after PSG’s 3-1 win against Rennes on Friday night. Dembélé was substituted with eight minutes remaining.
Speaking at the Emirates Stadium on Monday, Luis Enrique said: “If someone doesn’t comply or respect the expectations of the team, it means they are not prepared to play. The match tomorrow is very important and I want all my players to be ready, so as a consequence I have left him [Dembélé] out. I want the best for my team and that is my job.
“These circumstances are difficult and you have to take difficult decisions. But I am 100% engaged with my decision, and 100% sure of the decision I have made. It doesn’t mean this is irreversible, but I took the best decision for the team and that is why I signed here, to create a team that has a strong identity and has a lot of character.
“I was also hired to win titles. I cannot guarantee that. But I can guarantee the rest, which is playing with a strong identity. The day I cannot do this I will go home. I have the support of the club’s president and the sporting director. I am here to create a team and in the future that might include Ousmane Dembélé, just to be clear.”
Asked to explain the altercation with Dembélé, Luis Enrique replied: “I am very honest and I will be honest, but I am not going to create a soap opera out of this. There are no problems between us. That is completely false. This is simply about the responsibilities of the player.”
Away from Dembélé’s exile, Luis Enrique praised Mikel Arteta, hailing his former Barcelona teammate as one of the best managers in world football. “I spent a season with him at Barcelona,” the PSG manager said. “He was a very young player, but he was in the first-team squad.
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“He has had a great start to his coaching career and it will be a great pleasure to chat to him tomorrow, even if it is just for five minutes before the start of the game. He is one of the best coaches on the market at the moment. He changed Arsenal’s fortunes from a somewhat winless streak to one of the best teams in the world that is competing for titles. I would go as far as to say they are the best team in Europe playing without the ball. He is a great coach and a great person.”