Ousmane Dembele has finally delivered on the potential many feared we’d never see this season.
The Frenchman is set for the biggest game of his club career when Paris Saint-Germain take on Inter Milan in the Champions League final at the Allianz Arena on Saturday night, live on talkSPORT.
Dembele has enjoyed the crowning season of his career with Paris Saint-Germain this termGettyLuis Enrique‘s side have earned countless plaudits for their free-flowing, attacking football during their remarkable European campaign, with their team filled with technically-gifted talent.
At the forefront of this has been Dembele, who has fired in eight goals and provided four assists in the Parisians’ path to Munich.
Should the forward help PSG to a first-ever Champions League triumph on Saturday, it would round off a fine individual season which has seen him emerge as a contender for this year’s Ballon d’Or.
Dembele’s exploits have already seen him claim one individual crown, recently being named Ligue 1’s Player of the Year, having won the league whilst finishing as joint top-scorer with 21 goals.
This is an outcome few would have predicted when he first joined PSG in 2023, after an underwhelming six years at Barcelona left many thinking his career could end as another tale of wasted potential.
But at 28, the France international has finally arrived as the star he was tipped to become as a promising youngster.
And those who have worked closely with him have always known just high his ceiling could be.
Dembele first made a name for himself after rising through the youth ranks at Rennes to become breakout star in his debut season in Ligue 1, scoring 12 league goals in the 2015/16 campaign
His potential was clear for all to see, with the club’s then sporting director Mikael Silvestre comparing him to a young Cristiano Ronaldo.
He said: “I saw Cristiano Ronaldo arrive at the same age at Manchester United, and Ousmane has the same characteristics, which remind me of a young Cristiano.”
AFPDembele was named the Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year after a stunning breakout season with Rennes in 2015/16[/caption] He went on to strike up a strong partnership with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang at DortmundGetty Images - GettyIt wasn’t long before a bigger club came calling, with Borussia Dortmund snapping up Dembele for around £13.5million in 2016.
He made an immediate impression, helping Dortmund to win the German Cup in 2017 and being named in the Bundesliga team of the season and the rookie of the year.
The skilful winger’s stint in the Bundesliga lasted just one season before he was signed by Barcelona at the end of the season in a deal worth up to £135m.
At the Camp Nou, Dembele found himself in a team of superstars, with the headline act none other than all-time great Lionel Messi.
And despite his early years at Barca being hampered by injuries, causing him to miss a total of 80 games in three seasons, the Normandy native still managed to impress the Argentine.
Speaking in 2018, Messi said of him: “On the pitch (Dembele) is a phenomenon and it depends on him (how good he becomes).
Dembele lined up alongside two of the finest players of a generation in Luis Suarez and Lionel Messi at Barcelona The French forward scored 40 goals in 185 games during his six years in SpainGetty Dembele reached the pinnacle of football when he won the World Cup with France in 2018Getty Images - Getty“He has all the opportunity in the world to do what he wants. He can be one of the best.
“On the other hand, he’s a young guy who is adapting to the city and the club. The less you speak about it, the better. It’s necessary to leave him so he can be calm.
“He has already realised his mistakes and has rectified them. We are going to help him focus on football.”
Unfortunately for Dembele, his Barca career never quite took off, with recurrent injuries preventing him from achieving any consistency, whose best season came in 2018/19 where he scored 14 goals in 42 total games to help his side win LaLiga.
Despite World Cup glory with France in 2018, the star himself later admitted the lack of professionalism Messi alluded to prevented him from reaching his peak in Spain.
But the Frenchman certainly learned plenty from Messi during their four years as teammates, who he revealed in 2022 had tried to develop his game beyond his dazzling dribbling ability.
AFPDembele has won back-to-back Ligue 1 titles since joining PSG[/caption]Dembele said: “I was 20 when I arrived and Messi was amazing.
“I was doing lots of things like dribbling by myself so he taught me to play in a team, taught me to be more composed and to do assists.
“In the dressing room, he is a very simple person. He is modest, helps the younger players and taught me a lot.”
And the Inter Miami captain’s advice finally looks to be paying off, with Dembele adding end product to his game after hitting new heights since joining PSG in 2023.
In his first season at the Parc des Princes, he finished the campaign as Ligue 1’s joint-top assist provider, laying on ten goals for his teammates, on top of scoring three goals.
This term has seen Dembele combine both goals and assists, having netted 33 times in all competitions and set up a further 13, with a chance now to round off a stunning year with a Champions League crown that would surely make him the Ballon d’Or favourite..
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