GFFN Awards | Why was Ousmane Dembélé elected our Ligue 1 Player of the Season? | OneFootball

Ligue 1’s top scorer, Ousmane Dembélé (28) was the outstanding candidate to be named Get French Football News Player of the Season in Ligue 1. The Frenchman was voted for by every member of the GFFN team, whilst he also received over 72% of the public vote. Here is why he won the award:

It was thought that Kylian Mbappé’s astonishing output at PSG would have to be replaced in the aggregate. When the France captain left Les Parisiens at the end of last season, he had just finished a campaign in which he netted 27 goals in Ligue 1, securing his sixth consecutive Golden Boot in Ligue 1.

Other players have stepped up, granted, especially Bradley Barcola at the start of the season, however, in terms of goals, this team has been carried by Ousmane Dembélé’s goalscoring exploits. It is a turn of events that no one expected. A destabilising winger, Dembélé, throughout his career, has always been derided for his lack of end product.

That changed definitively this year for Dembélé, who has reinvented himself as a clinical No.9. Playing centrally, the Frenchman has shown a completely different side to his game. His 21 goals heading into the final matchday should be enough to see him win the Golden Boot, but his form has also carried over into Europe. He has 33 goals in all competitions, including eight in the Champions League. An incredible 25 of those goals have come in 2025 alone.

He has helped PSG win their fourth consecutive Ligue 1 title, whilst goals against Liverpool and Arsenal have helped Les Parisiens advance to the final of the Champions League. Not that individual accolades should be linked to collective titles, but should PSG win their UCL final against Inter Milan, he would be the outstanding candidate to win the Ballon d’Or later this year. Arguably, he already is.

>> READ: All the winners of the 2024/25 GFFN Awards

GFFN | Luke Entwistle