Dembele one year on: The mosquito comes back to life LaLiga Santander - FC Barcelona Injured on September 16, 2017

Sunday sees one year having passed since Ousmane Dembele suffered a serious tendon injury in his left leg at Getafe's Estadio Coliseum Alfonso Perez.

It was the start of a lost season for the Frenchman who underwent an operation and spent three and half months on the sidelines, returning only to pick up another injury for three weeks.

Despite arriving as the star signing to replace Neymar, he failed to get up to speed as expectations remained high and his injury handicapped his displays.

Ernesto Valverde appeared to lose faith in him after his return, leaving him on the bench for all of the big games and the club even considered the option of selling him this summer, though no club was willing to stump up the minimum price tag of 80 million euros.

In the first few games of this season, the situation has changed radically and he is showing the kind of quality that the club were expecting when they signed him.

With trust in him, the gamble is paying off and he has scored four goals having started every game to date, with three of those goals proving to be winners.

In the Spanish Super Cup, his strike was crucial in victory against Sevilla and again up against Real Valladolid.

On Saturday, against Real Sociedad, he proved decisive once more.

Now, he will be preparing for the Champions League, where he only played four games last season, starting only one, against Chelsea in the second leg of a knock-out tie where he scored.

In the best form he's enjoyed since moving to Spain, Dembele has become a key man for Valverde.

He's a regular starter and he's won that spot with his displays and his goals.