'He'd have won the Ballon d'Or if he were a better finisher!' - manager's BIG CLAIM over PSG star

Peter Staunton

Updated: 6 Apr 2024 09:21 BST
2 min read

Ousmane Dembele would have won the BALLON D’OR by now if he was only better in front of goal.

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That’s according to the Stade Rennes manager Julien Stephan, who coached the Paris Saint-Germain winger in the youth and reserve sides at his boyhood club.

Dembele, 26, moved to Paris from Barcelona last summer for a relative bargain, €50 million, to link up with friend and international colleague Kylian Mbappe in a new-look all-star strike force.

And while the former Borussia Dortmund attack has weighed in with a good number of assists, 13 in all competitions, his form in front of goal still leave a lot to be desired.

Dembele has played 34 times across all competitions for PSG and has only scored once, and that was all the way back in November in a 5-2 Ligue 1 win against Monaco.

Dembele is an extraordinary player

Question marks over the France World Cup winner’s quality in front of goal have long lingered and this season has done nothing to alleviate those doubts.

The man who moved from Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona in order to replace Neymar in a €105m deal back in 2017 is an electrifying dribbler, with outstanding facets in the rest of his game.

However, drawbacks remain over his goalscoring and general consistency.

Stephan, whose Rennes team lost to PSG in the Coupe de France semi-final on Wednesday night, acknowledges those negatives but says that Dembele remains “exceptional”.

“When I’m asked about Ousmane, you always ask about his weaknesses,” he told a press conference.

“I always respond and talk about his qualities. I think that he is an extraordinary player. In terms of destabilising, dribbling and his ability to create spaces, he is an exceptional player.

“If he was a better finisher, he would maybe have won a Ballon d’Or by now. It’s true! PSG have a top finisher and another player that destabilises in an exceptional way.”

PSG are gunning for a treble under Luis Enrique this season, 12 points clear in the league having only lost a single match, into the cup final, and facing Barca in the last eight of the Champions League.