4 most improved players this season at Barcelona

#1 Ousmane Dembele

Dembele is in fine form for Barcelona

What a difference six months can make in the career of a footballer. At the start of the season, there were genuine indications that Barcelona were willing to offload Ousmane Dembele, having yet to be convinced of his value to the club.

The arrival of Malcom from Bordeaux seemingly further pushed Dembele to the exit door, but in a remarkable turn of events, the World Cup winner is now an established member of the starting lineup.

Having been the most expensive player of all time at Barcelona, the 21-year-old had the unenviable task of replacing Neymar at the club and his Barca career got off to the worst start possible, as a horrific injury effectively ruined his chances of making an impact in his debut campaign.

Since then, accusations of not watching his diet, keeping late night, unprofessionalism with teammates and coaches even coming out to chide him, while the club fined him €100,000 for showing up late to training sessions.

These sets of events seemed to the light that ignited the long-awaited spark in the Frenchman, as he has become a new player, contributing his quota to the Barcelona cause.

Late last year, he scored a vital late equaliser in a top of the table clash away to Atletico Madrid, while his speed, skills and quick change of pace has offered a different dimension to Barcelona's attacks.

So far this season, Dembele has made 21 LaLiga appearances, scoring eight goals and assisting three, while in the UCL he has made five appearances and scored two goals (including that beautiful worldie against PSV).

His form has been so impressive that he has kept club record signing Philippe Coutinho out of the starting picture and if Dembele is to keep up with this form (to augment Messi), there could be no stopping Barcelona winning a third treble.