Ousmane Dembele Returns to Barcelona After Hamstring Surgery 'Went Well'

Ousmane Dembele has returned to Barcelona to recover from the hamstring surgery he underwent in Turku, Finland, on Tuesday. 

The operation was needed after the winger suffered a tear in his hamstring earlier in February, shortly before he was ready to return to action from another hamstring injury.

He returned to Barcelona on crutches on Wednesday night:

Lasse Lempainen, who carried out the surgery, told AS' Juan Jimenez:

"Dembele's operation went well and according to plan. What we found during the operation was exactly what the MRI scans initially revealed.

"The tear was located in the upper part of the biceps femoris muscle in his right leg. I am very satisfied with the results of the procedure.

"This injury on the right side was bigger and more demanding than the injury on the left side I operated on in 2017."

Dembele suffered a hamstring injury shortly after he signed for Barcelona in 2017, which kept him out for 20 matches in all competitions. He then missed another seven games soon after his return, when he suffered a relapse.

His latest issue is set to keep him out for the next six months, based on Lempainen's estimates.

The surgeon added he is "extremely confident that with careful and continuous treatment, Dembele will be back playing top-level football" and that "his best years in football [have] yet to come."

Despite Lempainen's confidence, Dembele's frequent injury problems—many of them related to his hamstrings—are a significant concern.

Barca signed him in 2017 following Neymar's departure to Paris Saint-Germain. They paid an initial €105 million fee—with the agreement of a potential €42 million in add-ons—after he racked up 10 goals and 22 assists in one season with Borussia Dortmund at the age of 19.

The Frenchman has been absent almost as much as he's been available for the club since the move, though:

Football writer Zach Lowy is concerned about the winger's future:

He will be 23 by the time he's fit to play again. Youth is still on his side, but spending so much time on the sidelines during his formative years will have done his development no good, not to mention the toll the injuries themselves will have taken.

Dembele's injuries mean that in three seasons at the Camp Nou he will have made just 74 appearances. In that time, he has scored 19 goals and laid on 17 assists.