Barcelona can replace Ousmane Dembele with a new player if the Frenchman is out for five months or longer.
This is the official rule of the Spanish Football Federation. However, it has some exclusions – the player must either play in La Liga or be out of contract. Also, the club will have just 15 days to finalize the signing.
However, Diario Sport's Albert Roge notes that Barca will rely on the players they have in the squad. Apart from Ansu Fati, the coaching staff reportedly plans to give more chances to Barcelona B winger Alex Collado and brand new centre-forward Rey Manaj.
What's more important, both Collado and Manaj are registered for the upcoming knockout clashes in the Champions League. If Barca go for a new signing, the player won't be registered for the Champions League.
On Tuesday, it was revealed by Barcelona that Ousmane Dembele has a complete proximal hamstring tear in his right thigh.
The winger is expected to undergo surgery. His recovery will reportedly take at least four months.
Ousmane Dembele has been unavailable since November. The winger suffered a disappointing hamstring injury which ruled him out for ten weeks. He was doing some conservative treatment in Qatar during the last weeks. Dembele only rejoined the group training last week.
