LONDON, England, July 9, 2025 – “I’m fascinated with the Ballon d’Or. I do know that, with the season I’ve had, I’m not far.”
Paris St-Germain striker Ousmane Dembele goes into Wednesday’s Club World Cup semi-final in opposition to Real Madrid tipped by many to assert this 12 months’s prize for the world’s finest participant.
His targets have already helped a younger and vibrant PSG facet win the Champions League, Ligue 1 and Coupe de France this season – now he has his eyes on finishing a quadruple within the United States.
Not solely does the tie on the MetLife Stadium in New York pit the present European champions in opposition to the report winners of the competitors, it additionally sees Dembele go face to face with pal and former PSG team-mate Kylian Mbappe.
Mbappe is PSG’s report goalscorer with 256 targets after becoming a member of them from Monaco on an preliminary mortgage in 2017, but it surely was not till after his departure that soccer’s holy grail – the Champions League – lastly ended up in Paris.
Ironically, you would additionally credit score Mbappe’s PSG exit final summer season with paving the best way for 28-year-old Dembele to have the best season of his profession to this point.
‘If he doesn’t win it there’s a downside with the Ballon d’Or’
Most folks consider this 12 months’s Ballon d’Or – with the nominations due in August – is a straight race between France’s Dembele and Barcelona wonderkid Lamine Yamal. It has been eight years within the making for the previous.
His expertise has by no means been in query.
France striker Dembele was as soon as the second-most costly participant on this planet when he signed for Barcelona from Borussia Dortmund in a deal price £135.5m in 2017 and, 4 years later, was described by Barca president Joan Laporta as “higher than Mbappe”.
Every week later, the newly-appointed Barcelona supervisor Xavi Hernandez stated he was a participant who “when used correctly, could possibly be one of the best participant on this planet”.
Four years on and along with his six-year spell of inconsistency and unfulfilled potential at Barcelona behind him, Dembele is definitely getting used correctly.
He has scored 34 targets and made 15 assists in 51 matches in all competitions within the season of his life to date, with these near him adamant his type warrants the final word accolade on 22 September.
PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi informed DAZN earlier than Wednesday’s heavyweight semi-final: “Ousmane’s season is magnificent.
“If he doesn’t win it, there’s a downside with the Ballon d’Or. He has completed all the things.”
PSG wanted a brand new talisman – step ahead Dembele
In August 2023, PSG purchased the France worldwide for simply £43.5m, and he scored six targets and made 14 assists as PSG received the league and cup double.
He was removed from the primary man although with club-record scorer Mbappe netting 44 in all competitions in one of the best of his seven seasons for PSG. It turned out to be his final as Real Madrid got here calling.
A brand new-look PSG wanted a brand new chief and talisman. Step ahead Dembele.
Last summer season, supervisor Luis Enrique informed Dembele that with out Mbappe within the group he wanted extra targets from him to go along with his giant variety of assists – carte blanche for the participant to indicate a extra egocentric strategy with much less passing and a much bigger want to attain.
In non-public, the teaching workers have regularly informed him that if he managed to transform a good share of the possibilities he creates, it may result in collective success after which particular person honours.
Dembele took all of it on board and has relished taking part in in his new tactical position.
In 2023-24, he was principally performed on the appropriate. There was no means of dislodging Mbappe from the central position.
Now he operates as a false 9, inside, the place he touches the ball extra, enjoys a higher freedom to obtain passes and participates within the build-up however with extra probabilities to complete.
“Would I vote for Dembele? Yes,” Mbappe stated when requested who ought to win the Ballon d’Or final month.
“I don’t assume it wants a lot explaining. People are speaking about Lamine Yamal and Dembele, however my alternative is obvious: I vote for Dembele.”
Dembele was as soon as Barca’s most-fined participant – what modified?
To put Dembele’s transformation solely right down to Mbappe’s Real transfer could be fallacious. That was merely the ultimate piece within the jigsaw.
Despite being largely harm free at Rennes and Dortmund, he sustained 14 muscle accidents in his time on the Nou Camp, spending 784 days sidelined.
Concerns over self-discipline and professionalism led the membership to assign non-public cooks to him, whereas late nights due to gaming affected his coaching punctuality, making him the membership’s most-fined participant lately.
Still, when match, his explosive tempo and dribbling made him a game-changer, as he confirmed glimpses of the expertise Barcelona invested in.
So what modified him?
Those that know Dembele finest – and few do – say he modified after marrying his girlfriend Rima in Morocco in December 2021, and shortly after he had a baby.
The marriage ceremony got here as a shock to lots of his team-mates, not least as a result of they didn’t even know he had a accomplice.
So the massive adjustments to his life occurred in his final two seasons at Barcelona when, primarily, he grew up.
Dembele labored at residence with a physiotherapist and regularly went to France to obtain specialised preventative therapies. With the eyes and thoughts of a father, he started to see issues in another way.
He lastly took on board the significance of excellent vitamin and, for the previous few seasons, has employed a French nutritionist who has helped him keep a more healthy way of life.
For a while many believed {that a} Champions League triumph for PSG could be depending on the on-field achievements of one in every of France’s heroes.
They had been proper – simply not with Mbappe, however a rejuvenated Dembele.
