Former Barcelona attacker Kevin-Prince Boateng has branded Ousmane Dembele "a child".

Dembele has scored 18 times in 66 appearances for Barca since joining the Spanish champions from Borussia Dortmund ahead of the 2017-18 campaign.

The France international has largely struggled for consistency during his time at Camp Nou, though, while his attitude and off-the-field conduct has been called into question on a number of occasions.

Boateng, who spent the second half of last season on loan with Ernesto Valverde's side, has claimed that Dembele is like "a boy swimming in a giant pool" as he struggles to come to terms with life at Barca.

"Dembele is like a child for me. You need accept him for what he is," Boateng told Bild. "Yeah, he might arrive late for training now and again. There are players who do it on purpose but he's different. He's always like a little child.

"The problem, and this isn't just about Dembele, is that young professionals earn far too much money. An 18-year-old shouldn't be earning €4m (£3.6m) per season.

"And if they do earn that, the money should be immediately reinvested so they see as little of it as possible. For me, he's still a boy swimming in a giant pool. He suddenly cost €105m (£94m) and still doesn't know how everything works."

Dembele was strongly linked with Paris Saint-Germain during the summer transfer window as a potential makeweight in a proposed deal for Neymar.