Iniesta: It is not necessary to kill Dembele if there is a remedy LaLiga Santander - Barcelona Considers the Frenchman to be top talent

Barcelona legend Andres Iniesta has returned to the city after his first few months at Japanese side Vissel Kobe, whose league recently finished, and the midfielder discussed the highly talented, but often unpunctual, Ousmane Dembele.

Following a great game against Espanyol on Saturday evening, Dembele turned up to training on Sunday two hours late and that caused the 21-year-old to once again feature in Spain's newspapers for the wrong reasons.

"It is difficult to assess the situation [with Dembele] because I am no longer here," Iniesta said during a promotional event for Ariel.

"There has to be rules and responsibilities and, if not respected, the club and the squad should remedy the situation.

"He is a very important player for Barcelona.

"We must solve the errors and not kill them; kill them when there's no cure.

"I do not think that the solution is hopeless; my advice is that this will come in time."

David Villa, Iniesta's former teammate at Barcelona, is leaving New York City FC to once again join up with the midfielder at Vissel Kobe, something the midfielder is excited about.

"I met with him on the last day before coming here [to Barcelona]," said Iniesta.

"We were teammates before and having a player of his level makes me very excited."

After a week in which Luka Modric won the Ballon d'Or and Pele came out with comments about Messi, Iniesta discussed the Argentine.

"I do not want to answer what Pele said," stated the 34-year-old.

"But he [Messi] is the best player in history, he's got all the records: headers, skills, right-footed shots, left-footed shots - I have not seen anyone do what he does and every year he exceeds my expectations.

"[Being] fifth [in the Ballon d'Or voting] is not an insult, but for me he is the best.

"It would be bad to say that it was unfair for Modric to win, he had a great season."