PROFILE | PSG’s enigmatic Ousmane Dembélé finally understood | OneFootball

Ousmane Dembélé has always been a somewhat enigmatic figure, even to himself. Back when playing at Stade Rennais, he was famously asked which is his stronger foot. The answer was a little confusing. He initially, after a slight hesitation, said that he was left footed. Then asked why he hit penalties with his right, he responded, “Because I shoot better with my right.” 

Even more recently, he was at pains to explain his obsession with documentaries about dictators. “I like seeing what the dictators did: Mobutu [Sese Seko], the German guy (Adolf Hitler, actually Austrian)… [Joseph] Stalin, I love all of that (the documentaries),” he said. Pushed on his interest, he said that he had “always” had it. “I don’t know why,” added Dembélé. 

As he grapples to understand himself, managers too have faced a similar problem. The world was at his feet when he made the €148m move to Barcelona back in 2017. But successive managers failed to extract the best from a player, whose career had drifted after having shown such promise. As he failed to deliver on his potential, frustration grew. Injuries had played a big part, but with his time in Catalunya coming to an end, it was his character that was frequently called into question. 

Dembélé the major winner from Mbappé’s exit

When he left France to move to Germany, he was a boy; he returned a man. Thrown into a context in which he was an experienced head, he was driven, focused, mature, still frustrating as a player, yes, but character was not in question. Once again, was it just that he was misunderstood? 

Luis Enrique took time to understand the enigma, to unlock the potential that so many had assumed had simply been squandered. And it all came about thanks to a simple repositioning. The decision not to sign a No.9 back in the summer of 2024, following Kylian Mbappé’s departure, looked an odd one. PSG’s ambition was still to win the Champions League and so failing to sign a replacement for your leading goalscorer, one of the best players in the world, felt like an admission of resignation. They couldn’t keep Mbappé, and with him, the UCL dream died, or so it seemed.

But Mbappé’s departure, coupled with a combination of poor form and injuries for Goncalo Ramos, saw Dembélé move from out on the right, where he had spent his entire career, and into the middle of the pitch. Let the metamorphosis begin. From a destabilising but profilgate winger, capable of disappointing and dazzling in equal measure, he was transformed into a clinical, prolific goalscorer. 

Finishing was never his strong suit, so it was thought, but he dispelled that myth. Shooting from range, as he often did, cutting in off the right, often chopping onto his left, was never a strength, but it turns out that instinctive one-touch finishing was. Asked about his change in fortune in front of goal towards the end of last season, he simply said that it was the position in which he played. “I am more lucid in front of goal,” added the France international. There is a seeming correlation between time to think and efficiency in front of goal. For Dembélé, the less time the better. 

Dembélé’s repositioning lends itself to his strengths

His repositioning as a No.9 really lent itself to Dembélé’s two-footedness. The ability to take snapshots within a packed box without having to work it onto a stronger foot allowed for a speed of execution that was deadly and a major reason for what was comfortably his most prolific season. 

35 goals later and Dembélé had fired Les Parisiens to a historic trophy haul: the Champions League, Ligue 1, the Trophée des Champions, and the Coupe de France were all wrapped up by the summer. By the end of the calendar year, the UEFA Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup had been added to their cabinet.

As Nasser Al Khelaifi always stresses, the star is the collective, and this was very much a collective triumph for PSG, the winners of six trophies inside a calendar year. But it was Dembélé who got the goals that allowed PSG to collect those trophies… and then an individual award all of his own – the Ballon d’Or.

There can be a fair debate about whether Dembélé is truly the best player in the world – Lamine Yamal certainly has a strong case – but there is a very strong argument that no player had a better 2025. The Frenchman was in tears as he received the award in Paris, an award that many thought him capable of winning when he burst onto the scene, prior to the emergence of doubt, a succession of injuries, and the loss of confidence.

Deschamps’ dilemma

Luis Enrique has unlocked a new version of Dembélé, one that no one knew ever existed, ever could exist. The question is whether Didier Deschamps can do the same as he heads into his final tournament as manager of the France national team.

For all of his exploits with PSG, Dembélé has struggled to turn it on for France. In 57 games for Les Bleus, he still has just seven goals. Like at club level, is it simply a question of positioning? “He’ll still put me on the right,” joked Dembélé, stood next to Deschamps as he received his Ligue 1 POTY award. “I’ll put you on the left,” replied Deschamps. But whereas Mbappé left PSG, freeing up the possibility for Dembélé to play as a No.9, the Real Madrid forward is not going anywhere at international level.

It is an interesting dilemma for Deschamps, one that will become even more pertinent should Dembélé rediscover his best form. Injuries – that old chestnut – have prevented him from replicating last season’s incredible form. Now fit, he must rediscover his rhythm too in 2026. He is now at the summit of world football, but if he is to stay there, he must prove that 2025 was not simply a flash-in-the-pan.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle