Barcelona Manager Ernesto Valverde Laughs off Ousmane Dembele Lateness

Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde has laughed off Ousmane Dembele's most recent transgression after the forward turned up for training more than two hours late. 

Dembele started in Philippe Coutinho's place in the local derby against Espanyol on Saturday, scoring and assisting in the 4-0 romp. He was late for training on Sunday and made to train on his own, but Valverde has since spoken to the media and curtailed the criticism aimed at his player:

"It happened to me!

"I knew you were going to ask about Dembele. It's true that some things have happened, we will try to solve things internally, and there's not much more to say about this.

"It is a new situation, and we want to help this player, because he has great talent, and we want to help him make the most of it.

"These are questions about an internal matter. He's a player who gives us a lot of things in the field, but in the same way that others contribute a lot on the pitch. We all have to follow some guidelines here."

It's not the first time Dembele's tardiness has been a topic of concern this term, and Valverde added: "You win the derby 4-0 and everyone says it'll be relaxing, it's sunny outside and you hope nothing crazy happens."

The Blaugrana host Tottenham Hotspur in their final UEFA Champions League group-stage match on Tuesday, and Valverde could field an experimental lineup with first place in the pool already assured.

In a familiar series of events, Valverde was similarly complimentary of winger Dembele after he assisted one of Barca's two goals in their 2-0 win at Villarreal earlier in December, per AFP's Tom Allnutt:

Dembele has now started each of Barcelona's last two league games, but there are bound to be concerns over whether he'll keep his place when Coutinho is fit again, particularly if issues over his attitude persist.

Sport's Samuel Marsden noted the Frenchman was at least in attendance for Monday's training session on schedule:

French defender Clement Lenglet defended his compatriot in a recent press conference and said:

"I don't have much idea about what is happening with him, but what I do know is that he is doing very well on the pitch.

"I don't know if [a punishment] is the right thing to do or not, you'd have to ask that question to those with the power because I don't know if he has to be sanctioned.

"He's doing a lot of things well on the pitch. He's playing very well for the team and that's what interests me most about him."

There are few doubts over the €105 million signing's talent on the field, but clubs such as Barca expect a certain level of discipline, which is where Dembele is yet to meet expectations.

Almost 18 months after his arrival from Borussia Dortmund, and it seems Dembele's late habits are at least more amusing to his coach now, though his skills aren't enough to see him avoid punishment altogether.