Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele has been on fire this season, but the France international has said his first five years at the club was a waste.

The 25-year-old arrived Camp Nou in 2017 for a massive fee from Borussia Dortmund but he has taken a long time to settle.

It was only from last season that he started to look like the player Barcelona paid big money for.

Speaking to RMC, the 25-year-old has admitted he made lots of mistakes as a young player.

“I was young like everyone has been,” said Dembele when asked about his lifestyle in his first years at Barcelona.

“But I managed to move on from that situation. However, it’s not like many people thought.

“From 2017 to 2021 I wasted a lot of time. I’ve lost five years of my life.”

The France international also had a lot of injury problems, and it hampered his development. He admitted that he didn’t put in enough work to come out of it.

“I had a lot of hamstring injuries. If you don’t work hard, you’ll get stuck,” said Dembele.

“You’ll hurt yourself if you don’t get stronger, they told me. With Ronald Koeman and Xavi that got better.

“Since then I’ve not had any injuries. We cross our fingers and keep working. I’m good, I feel good at Barcelona, I have the confidence of the whole team, the whole club and I’m happy. Now everyone is talking about football it’s better.”