Much ado About Nothing. That refrain is what has accompanied Ousmane Dembélé throughout most of his career. Especially since Barcelona paid Borussia Dortmund 105 million for him in August 2017. He never shook off that label at the Camp Nou, a period marked by his making erroneous decisions on the field. One of the fans' biggest complaints is that he started many promising attacks and finished few of them. It seems that he put that defect in his suitcase and took it with him to Paris.
New life, Dembélé himself. Changing shirts has not meant an improvement in the final meters. Either he has one dribble left, or he rushes the shot or passes it when he had a good position. The story of never ending with the French striker.
The 26-year-old winger has played 9 games with his new colors (8 as a starter) between Ligue 1 and the Champions League and has not yet been able to celebrate his first goal with the PSG shirt.
He did not do better with the French team on the previous FIFA date. He played a qualifying match against Ireland and a friendly against Germany and he didn't score either. Tomorrow, in Amsterdam, against the Netherlands he will have a new opportunity. Although his time in Les Bleus does not exactly stand out for the great numbers and he has not seen a goal for more than two years, since June 2021.
While he arrives, his last goal is still for Blaugrana. It was in July at the classic tour in Dallas. Dembélé received a practiced free kick from Pedri and crossed Courtois with his right foot to open the scoring.
So, despite the rumor that his future was in the Parc des Princes, Dembélé, who was always an enigma, celebrated it like another culé. In the end, that was the last time he defended the Barça shield. The player asserted the escape clause that appeared in his last renewal. Barça brought in 35 million and the forward pocketed 15 of PSG's 50 million. “I'm disappointed in him,” lamented Xavi Hernández, who got wet from the first day. “Well trained, he can be the best in the world in his position,” he assured.
In Paris he was presented with the number 23 on his back but he never played with that number. With the departure of Neymar (118 goals and 77 assists), he changed it to number 10, the star number. However, what PSG least thought of was that he would be blocked alongside his colleague Mbappé.
Dembélé is extremely dazed in front of the goal. He has not scored yet in 675 minutes and has only provided two assists: one to Gonçalo Ramos and another to Vitinha. Of his 18 shots, only five have gone on goal and another went into the woodwork. In France, he even seems to have lost the genial imbalance of him. In just half of the attempted dribbles (40) he leaves his marker. The only one who is not anxious is Luis Enrique, his coach. “Ousmane is really top in everything he does. I am very satisfied with his performance. His statistics will improve,” predicts his coach. Although in Barcelona that patience almost runs out.
