With a nine-figure transfer to Barcelona under his belt by the age of 20, Ousmane Dembele was earmarked as the game’s next superstar and a potential successor to his new team-mate Lionel Messi.
But injuries and off-pitch issues meant that the France international’s potential was never achieved in Catalonia. After six seasons with the club, which saw him net 24 La Liga goals in 127 appearances, he moved back to his homeland, signing for Paris Saint-Germain in a €50 million move.
His first year in Paris saw Dembele score six times in 42 appearances as the club won a domestic double, paving the way for a blockbuster second season at Parc des Princes.
Ousmane Dembele on his renaissance under Luis Enrique
The 28-year-old scored a career-high 35 goals as PSG claimed their maiden Champions League title, while also defending their Ligue 1 and Coupe de France trophies.
Dembele provided two assists in a 5-0 thrashing of Inter Milan in the Champions League final, helping install him as the favourite to win the Ballon d’Or later this year, with FourFourTwo ranking him at no.3 in a list of the world’s best strikers earlier this summer. And he believes he has his coach, Luis Enrique, to thank for it all.
“I had lots of confidence from the coach,” Dembele tells FourFourTwo. “He explained to me at the start of the season that I had to be a leader in this team – to set an example, both to the young players and the old ones.
“He didn’t tell me to be selfish, quite the opposite. He told me that when you’re in front of goal, if you can’t shoot and there’s someone better positioned than you, then you have to pass. That’s how he sees things, and what he told me. He repeated that to me.
“Of course, he’s happy that I’m scoring goals, because a striker, an offensive player, has to score. But he sees things a little differently.
“He doesn’t ask me to be selfish, but to focus on the team, and then the goals will come naturally.”
“Luis Enrique gives me total freedom on the pitch, to interchange with my team-mates, to go a little deeper, to stay higher... and the structure adapts to it all. It’s something I enjoy, and it’s something that I quickly adapted to.”
With the 2026 World Cup now coming into view, Dembele looks to have picked up where he left off last season, after he was named the player of the match in PSG’s UEFA Super Cup win over Tottenham.
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