"I knew Dembele was late for training in Dortmund"

"I knew the whole situation, I knew he was late for training in Dortmund," said Robert Fernandez in 'beIN Sports', while trying to downplay the drama surrounding Ousmane Dembele's behavior.

"I was also late for training at Barcelona with Johan [Cruyff] as a coach... I played every Sunday and there was no problem at all," Robert Fernandez said of the French striker.

Dembele has starred in several controversial news stories because of his frequent late arrivals to training and not taking proper care of his rented houses... However, in recent weeks, Dembele has maintained an exemplary attitude.

Moreover, it is not the first time that Robert Fernandez defends Dembele and criticizes the fact that the Frenchman's late arrivals are known so soon to the press. 

He also believes that Barcelona acted well and with "peace of mind" after the departure of Neymar Jr. "We burned all the ships. If we hadn't had peace of mind, we would have made a lot of mistakes, making signings that weren't the right ones. We went to the transfer market and paid more money than we wanted, but we signed two good players, Coutinho and Dembele," said the former executive azulgrana.

BeIN Sports' has published a preview of this interview that will be broadcasted this Friday from 20:00 (Spanish time).

April 23, 2019