Not many people understand the mind of Ousmane Dembele better than Mikael Silvestre.

The precocious young talent was making his way through the ranks at Rennes when he boycotted the club for five weeks.

Refusing to speak with Rennes, it was up to Silvestre, who was technical director at the time, to pick up the pieces.

The former France and Manchester United defender eventually convinced Dembele to sign his first professional contract with Rennes at the age of 18.

Dembele celebrating for Rennes

Fast forward six years and Dembele is playing with Barcelona, having hardly achieved the promise envisaged by Silvestre, who once compared him to Cristiano Ronaldo.

A change of scenery has been touted for the 24-year-old winger, with Manchester United and Liverpool are among some of the clubs linked with him in the past.

Silvestre believes the France international's stilted progress is down to injuries, but has no doubts he could make it in the Premier League.

"Ousmane broke into the team very early into his career, I was there to witness his development and since then he's barely had a full season without injury," Silvestre told TribalFootball.com, on behalf of NetBet.

"That's really where things have gone wrong for him because when he's on top form he's such a good player.

Dembele must take on more responsibility at Barcelona this season

"Going forward, someone like him we could see in the Premier League.

"He's capable of playing in any league, he's already played in France, Germany and Spain.

"I don't see any reason why he couldn't play in the Premier League, but right now he needs to sort out his physique and be more robust because that's been difficult for him."

Reports have claimed Barcelona could keep Dembele following the departures of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann this summer.

According to RAC1, Dembele is happy at Camp Nou and his representatives will now meet to thrash out an extension on his contract, which is due to expire in June 2022.