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Ryan O’HanlonMar 14, 2025, 07:51 AM ET
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- Ryan O’Hanlon is a workforce creator for ESPN.com. He is additionally the writer of “Web Beneficial properties: Within the Stunning Recreation’s Analytics Revolution.”
9 years in the past, Ousmane Dembélé was once doing what he is doing now: wrecking Ligue 1. However again then, he was once an 18-year-old taking part in for Rennes.
It was once his first season as a professional, and he was once on his technique to scoring 12 objectives and aiding 5 extra in fewer than 2,000 mins. One explicit reporter was once baffled in the similar manner that each one of France’s defenders had been.
“Are you right-footed or left footed?” he requested.
“Hmmm,” Dembélé paused. He did not even appear to understand. “Left-footed.”
“Are you positive? Since you additionally rating along with your correct foot.”
“Yeah, I am extra left-footed.”
“Do not you shoot consequences along with your correct foot?”
“Hmmm,” some other pause. “Yeah.”
“Why?”
“As a result of I shoot higher with my correct foot.”
Just about a decade later, taking part in for his fourth group after shifting between golf equipment for a blended €220 million in switch charges, he coated up for a penalty towards Liverpool at Anfield. This time, it appeared like was once going to make use of his left foot — prior to he shuffled to the opposite aspect of the ball, stepped up and planted the ball into the higher nook together with his correct.
Mins later, PSG was the primary group to ever knock Liverpool out of the Champions League after shedding the primary leg at house. They usually did it, largely, as a result of Dembélé in any case fulfilled the promise of that ambipedal youngster who despatched France spinning 9 seasons in the past.
At the moment, I am assured that Ousmane Dembélé is the most efficient football participant on the planet. This is why.
Why Dembélé appeared like the following Neymar
A 12 months after dizzying defenses throughout Ligue 1, Dembélé was once scooped up via Borussia Dortmund for €35m. This was once again prior to Actual Madrid had been spending even larger sums on much more unproven youngsters. The football financial system labored like such: In case you had been beneath, say, 23 years previous and had proven world-class promise, you possibly can transfer to Dortmund for a midrange charge, get heaps of taking part in time for a pair seasons, get to compete within the Champions League and in the end transfer to one of the vital greatest golf equipment on the planet when they had been able to fit you into the beginning XI.
At Dortmund in 2016-17, Dembélé was once simply as productive as he was once at Rennes. In his age-18 season in France, he averaged 0.76 non-penalty objectives and assists in keeping with 90 mins. In his age-19 season in Germany, he averaged … 0.75 non-penalty objectives and assists in keeping with 90 mins. Nevertheless it wasn’t simply objectives and assists.
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Unsurprisingly, when no one, together with your self, is aware of which foot is your more potent foot, it is in point of fact onerous for defenders to forestall you. Heck, it was once onerous sufficient for defenders to forestall Arjen Robben, they usually all the time knew what manner he was once going. Dembélé is among the maximum fluid football gamers you can ever see.
Everybody else had a specific set of angles that they depended on — a type of physiological signature — to transport with the ball. Now not Dembélé; all 360 angles had been all the time an possibility, and he then blended that unbelievable flexibility of motion with world-class explosiveness. He discovered the protection’s vulnerable level and burst thru it — again and again.
With Rennes, Dembélé finished over 5 a success take-ons in keeping with 90 mins. Amongst gamers with no less than 1,200 mins performed throughout Europe’s Giant 5 leagues in 2015-16, none finished extra. There have been best 4 gamers who averaged no less than 3.5 a success take-ons in keeping with 90 and likewise scored or assisted at a fee of 0.75 or higher in keeping with 90 mins. They had been Neymar and Lionel Messi at Barcelona, Riyad Mahrez in Leicester Town’s title-winning season and 18-year-old Ousmane Dembélé.
With Dortmund, he was once even higher. His dribbling numbers declined a little, however that is a statistic that peaks at a in point of fact younger age for many gamers. In Germany, he nonetheless beat 4.5 defenders in keeping with 90 mins off the dribble, nonetheless generated objectives on the similar fee and he additionally finished 4.7 passes into the field — up from 3.4 with Rennes. The one gamers within the Bundesliga who finished extra had been Robben and Franck Ribery for Bayern Munich.
Around the Giant 5 leagues, there have been 3 gamers who averaged no less than 4 a success take-ons in keeping with 90 mins and 4 passes into the penalty house: Messi, Neymar and 19-year-old Ousmane Dembélé.
If we tweak the thresholds, we are left with this relaxed little reality: Within the 2016-17 season, best two gamers in Europe averaged no less than 4.5 a success take-ons and four.5 passes into the penalty house in keeping with 90 mins: Neymar … and the fellow who would exchange Neymar at Barcelona.
Why Dembélé wasn’t the following Neymar
In the summertime of 2017, PSG broke the switch marketplace via doubling the former world-record charge and paying Neymar’s €222m liberate clause. For the entire grievance that we (most commonly rightly) give Barcelona for his or her mismanagement during the last close to decade, Dembélé was once the proper signing to switch him.
At this level, there have been 3 gamers on the planet who had been world-class dribblers, world-class passers and world-class target manufacturers. Dembélé trailed Messi and Neymar in that closing class, a very powerful one, however we’ve hardly ever, if ever, noticed a teen do the entire issues he had carried out. And he had carried out it two seasons in a row. And he had carried out it in two other leagues.
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Dembélé was once as shut as you’ll get to projecting a participant to be a Ballon d’Or candidate, and he was once so just right at such a lot of issues that there was once little or no chance of him being an entire bust. Despite the fact that the objectives by no means hit a world-class degree, he was once nonetheless in a position to push the ball up the sphere in addition to someone. Now, €135m is an absurd amount of cash to pay to easily wreck a participant’s contract, however Dembélé and Kylian Mbappé had been the 2 gamers you possibly can’ve wager that cash on in the event you needed to in 2017.
The principle reason why it did not pass smartly for Dembélé at Barcelona is beautiful easy: he hardly ever performed. A few of this is unhealthy success; a few of it, as assets in Europe have instructed, is that Dembélé did not have the maniacal my-body-is-a-machine center of attention that the sector’s maximum tough athletes deal with. Regardless of the precise causes, Dembélé was once the fourth-most dear switch within the historical past of the game, and he best performed 44% of the to be had mins for Barcelona throughout his six years with the membership from 2017 to 2023.
Throughout the ones six seasons, he averaged 0.69 non-penalty objectives+assists in keeping with 90 mins. That is not a lot less than he averaged prior to shifting to Spain, however it is nonetheless smartly beneath what Neymar (0.85) averaged. And it is nowhere close to Messi. Plus, those had been a few of Dembélé’s top years. He was once intended to be making improvements to his output — now not going backward.
How Dembélé was a false 9 and a standard 9 — abruptly
Funnily sufficient, Dembélé in the end changed Neymar once more.
The Brazilian made up our minds to depart PSG and wind down his occupation with a Saudi Professional League payout closing summer time. (He is since voided that contract to go back to Brazil, the place he is again the place he began at Santos.) Barcelona, in the meantime, had been nonetheless pulling as many levers as imaginable with the intention to exchange a few of their already just right gamers with gamers principally simply as just right, in order that they allowed Dembélé to transport again to France, to PSG, for €50m prior to the beginning of the 2023-24 marketing campaign.
In his six seasons with Barcelona, Dembélé scored 24 objectives and added 34 assists. Neymar, for reference, publish 68 and 35 throughout 4 seasons. Messi had extra target contributions than Dembélé’s 58 general in two other unmarried seasons.
With PSG closing 12 months, Dembélé was once superb: a ton of ball development, now not a large number of objectives and assists, or even much less taking part in time. He scored 3 objectives and assisted 8 extra in Ligue 1, throughout simply 1,500 mins. He added two extra objectives and one help in 950 Champions League suits.
However then one thing modified. Smartly, two issues.
First, Kylian Mbappé left for Actual Madrid. Given his suits and begins with Actual Madrid, we are finding out that Mbappé in point of fact is a hard participant to combine into your device. He loves to play at the wing, however he isn’t a prime contact participant and maximum of his price comes from what he does off the ball. He additionally does virtually 0 paintings defensively. In different phrases, he is a non-pressing striker who does not love to play in the course of the middle. In spite of an unrivaled goal-scoring checklist at his age, a large number of tactical levers nonetheless want to be pulled to take advantage of out of him.
The second one trade, although, came about halfway thru this season. Luis Enrique grew to become Dembélé into a middle ahead. Ever since then, PSG were the most efficient group on the planet and Dembélé’s been the most efficient participant.
This is the heatmap of his touches prior to Jan. 1:
And here is what it seems like after Jan. 1:
For the reason that flip of the 12 months, Dembélé has 18 non-penalty objectives in Ligue 1 and the Champions League. No participant in Europe has greater than 11. And the section that makes Dembélé the most efficient participant on the planet presently is that he is scoring all of the ones objectives — and nonetheless doing the entirety he used to do.
He is finished 43 passes into the penalty house in 2025 — tied for the 7th maximum amongst all gamers, whilst nobody forward of him has scored greater than seven non-penalty objectives. And he is finished 30 take-ons — tied for 8th maximum amongst all gamers.
There is a need to confer with Dembélé as a “false 9” as a result of he is a participant who hasn’t ever up to now performed middle ahead who’s now taking part in middle ahead. However the prototypical false 9 is a participant who drops deeper after which permits wingers and midfielders to run previous him into the field. Dembélé is losing deeper to facilitate play … after which he is additionally working into the field.
We noticed all of it in his target towards Liverpool. He drops deep to obtain a cross to damage Liverpool’s press. Then he drives the ball ahead, splits the protection with a thru ball and then he makes the run into the penalty house to power a mistake and in the end rating a target.
Ousmane Dembélé offers PSG the lead at Anfield however the passes within the increase %.twitter.com/4vYAPsa3fR
— CBS Sports activities Golazo ️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) March 11, 2025
Dembélé may be one in every of best 5 gamers in Europe to sign in no less than 100 touches within the opposition penalty house in 2025. In different phrases, he is within the peak 10 for dribbling previous gamers, the highest 10 for finishing passes into the field and the highest 10 for locating area within the field. Oh yeah, after which he is additionally just about lapping the sphere together with his target scoring.
Come what may, it will get even higher, too. At the side of Barcelona, PSG are the one different peak group who nonetheless attempt to press their combatants off the sphere from begin to end. Since Jan. 1, PSG and Barcelona are the one groups to succeed in the Champions League spherical of 16 who permit fewer than 9.3 passes of their attacking part prior to making an attempt a defensive motion and feature stored their combatants beneath a cross crowning glory fee of 80%.
We nonetheless have not in point of fact noticed Barcelona’s way force examined via a peak group out of doors of Spain, however PSG simply completely smothered Liverpool over two legs with their press. The tie went to consequences, however the French membership had been the much better group around the 210 mins. They held Liverpool to their two lowest cross crowning glory charges of the season, and that way does not paintings with out a entrance 3 who actively devote and give a contribution to a press. In the second one leg at Anfield, in keeping with Statsbomb knowledge, Dembélé finished 52 pressures: 10 greater than another participant.
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For comparability, Mohamed Salah made 14 in the similar sport. And it was once in point of fact onerous to look at the ones two suits and make the declare that he was once even with reference to the most efficient participant at the box. Salah and perhaps Mbappe can rival Dembélé’s three-part skill to overcome defenders off the dribble, make runs into the field and play killer passes into the penalty house however neither one comes anyplace close to putting in place the defensive paintings that Dembélé does.
Few gamers have ever had higher seasons than the only Salah is lately having. And that is the reason how we pass judgement on these items. Dembélé has performed round 63% of PSG’s mins in all comps — his best fee for the reason that 73% he performed with Dortmund 8 seasons in the past. There are actual questions as as to whether he can stay this up as a result of, smartly, we’ve got by no means noticed him stick with it.
However for a minimum of two-plus months in 2025, this absolutely wholesome and entirely freed model of Dembélé has been the most efficient participant in the world. His correct foot has 10 non-penalty objectives and his left foot has 8. Each could be a top-five mark in 2025.
We nonetheless do not know which foot is healthier — simply that every one, on its own, is healthier than virtually everyone else.
