Dembélé reborn, he thanks Luis Enrique

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·11 September 2025

Dembélé reborn, he thanks Luis Enrique

Luis Enrique had an idea during the 2024-2025 season: to move Ousmane Dembélé to the center of Paris Saint-Germain’s attack. This turned out to be a great collective and individual success. In an interview with Onze Mondial, the 28-year-old forward opened up about this new role and the famous “freedom” given to him by the Spanish coach.

Dembélé: “A very great coach who has very good ideas.”

How has Luis Enrique changed your game? How is it going with him? He gives me some advice. Besides, I already know this central position. If I’m placed in the center, I’m not going to play the same way as when I’m out wide. Luis Enrique is a very great coach who has very good ideas. He’s given me a lot of freedom on the pitch. That’s something I like and enjoy.

Dembélé: “I’m a bit everywhere on the pitch.”

Goal or assist, which do you prefer? (Smiles) I prefer scoring to assisting (laughs). When you score goals, it’s great. Especially when you’re a number nine. As for me, people say: “Ousmane, you’re a number nine,” but in reality, I’m a bit everywhere on the pitch. Still, when you’re in the center, you have to score goals because the wingers serve you a lot. You have to step up and take advantage of their offerings. Today, I clearly prefer scoring, especially when I’m in the center. Do you consider yourself a striker? A number 9? I consider myself a somewhat free player on the pitch. I’m not a real 9.

Dembélé: “It’s hard to score goals.”

What’s harder: scoring or assisting? Zinedine Zidane used to say: “The hardest thing in football is to score.” I completely agree with him. He’s right, scoring goals is the hardest thing in football. Otherwise, if it were easy, everyone would be scoring 40 goals a season (bursts out laughing). It’s hard to score goals. I share Zidane’s point of view, there’s a lot of stress when you’re in front of goal. You need a sense for goal, you need to be well positioned, you need to shoot in the right area, you need to be clear-headed, etc. Scoring is much harder than assisting. With an assist, you make the pass and hope your teammate scores, it’s not the same.

Dembélé had indeed already played in the center, notably with Luis Enrique at FC Barcelona. But he was first seen as a winger, mainly because he lacked efficiency in front of goal. Also, he doesn’t fit the profile of a classic “9.” In fact, the French international emphasizes that this is not his role.

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Armed with great freedom, PSG’s number 10 is fully expressing himself. He can drop deep, make runs in behind, combine with his teammates, attack the defense with dribbles—all while being comfortable with both feet. He is thus very unpredictable. More so than when he’s out wide, which limits his options. Even though, of course, he remains dangerous as a winger. But you wouldn’t expect to see him “hugging the touchline.”

Especially since Dembélé has developed a certain sense for goal, with shots that are a bit more precise than before. Partly because he starts closer to goal and is more clear-headed at the end of his actions. There’s also a certain confidence that only comes with scoring goals. He’s entered a virtuous circle and we hope to see him keep it going.

Not to mention, as he rightly points out, that it’s not easy to score. It’s normal not to convert every chance. A player’s or a team’s “inefficiency” is sometimes exaggerated. But Dembélé has truly taken a step forward, and that’s a big difference for this player who has always been very creative.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇫🇷 here.