Xavi made to regret Dembele "priority" as Barcelona saga takes another twist

Ousmane Dembele has become the first Barcelona player to be fined by Xavi days after the new manager tipped him to become the "best player in the world".

The club legend was announced as Barcelona's new coach last week after the Catalan club sacked Dutchman Ronald Koeman at the end of October.

The former midfield maestro immediately set about asserting his authority and instilling discipline back into the club as he implemented ten strict rules for his players to adhere to.

The 41-year-old, who returned to the club he spent 17 years at following six years away in Qatar with Al-Sadd, has already been forced to punish his first player days after the restrictions were put in place.

Dembele will receive a fine after arriving at the club's training ground at 8:33am, three minutes late for Friday morning's session - an offence under Xavi's new rulings.

The first of the Spaniard's ten rules is that all players must arrive at the club's training ground 90 minutes before sessions are to begin and with training commencing at 10am, Barcelona's number seven turned up late.

The Frenchman's poor punctuality will come as blow for Xavi especially after the glowing comments he made about Dembele during last week's press conference at his unveiling.

With the winger out-of-contract at the end of the season, Xavi highlighted a new Dembele deal as one of his priorities while tipping the 24-year-old to become one of the best players in the world.

"Extending Ousmane Dembele's contract is one of our priorities, yes. He could be the best player in the world in his position," Xavi declared.

"Ousmane has to work a lot, he has the potential to make the difference at Barca as a world top player. But he needs to be consistent."

Can Ousmane Dembele go on to become one of the best players in the world at Barcelona? Comment below

However, Dembele, who has seen his Barcelona career ravaged by injuries, could have made his new manager regret his comments following his Friday blunder.

Dembele joined the Blaugrana form German side Borussia Dortmund in 2017 for a whopping £97m and has managed 30 goals in 119 appearances as numerous injuries have plagued his Barca career.

Xavi is the first Barcelona boss since Luis Enrique in 2017 to implement a fining policy, something that brought discipline and success to the club during the reign of Pep Guardiola, whom Barcelona's new manager played under.

The returning club hero has reportedly set about reintroducing the training session ruling in order to allow his players to properly prepare and foster a stronger team spirit with players able to socialise over breakfast and interact with coaching staff.

Barcelona are currently ninth in the La Liga table having failed to win any of their last four league fixtures.

The first match of the much-anticipated Xavi era will take place with on Saturday 20 November when his Barcelona side welcome local rivals Espanyol in the Derbi Barceloni.