It’s rare that a player is so good that he doesn’t know which foot is better, but that’s the case with Ousmane Dembele – who is finally realizing his potential.
Going under the radar at the Qatar World Cup with France team-mates Kylian Mbappe and Olivier Giroud making headlines, Dembele could send England packing their bags if they fail to keep up with him.
And it won’t be an easy task either, given one of his first football interviews as a teenager at Rennes showed just how unpredictable his game can be.
“Are you right-handed or left-handed?” asked a reporter.
“Hmm, left foot,” Dembele replied.
“Are you sure because you also score with your right foot?” continues the journalist.
“Yeah, I’m more left-handed, yeah,” Dembele said.
“But why are you shooting penalties with your right?” he was interrogated.
“Because I shoot better with my right foot,” replied Dembele, completely deadpan.
The thing with Dembele, however, isn’t just which foot he’s best on that confuses journalists, it’s his position, his role in the team and whether or not he likes football.
Entering the Rennes talent factory scene as a child prodigy in 2015, Borussia Dortmund did what they always do best – featured again with Erling Haaland and Jude Bellingham – handing the Frenchman minutes regular and a stepping stone to the top of the game.
However, unlike a number of starlets who have followed the same path as him, including his successor Jadon Sancho, Dembele hasn’t had time to settle down and improve in Germany as his talent is too good. to be refused.
Barcelona could hardly wait after losing Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain for €222m [£198m]and instantly reinvested the entire sum in Philippe Coutinho and Dembele.
And while Coutinho’s half unsurprisingly dominated as he flopped before leaving for Bayern Munich and Aston Villa, Dembele had a tough run but could finally prove his worth.
Now finding the form of his Barca career under Xavi Hernandez, the manager can’t stop talking about him.
“He’s happy, having fun, content, he’s important for me, for the group… He makes a difference, assists, scores, he’s a knife and he’s in a good moment,” Xavi said recently. .
“I don’t want to shower him with praise but the ability he has one-on-one is at the level of the best Neymar. He needs to be more daring, shoot more and score.
“He’s a good boy and he has to take advantage of those characteristics. He’s capable of making a difference and he does.
After a different game, Xavi also said: “He has a unique talent. He must try, even if he loses balls, I force him to face defenders one-on-one in the attacking areas of the field.
“This player, he is different from the others, he is unique. He has to dribble, try things, cross…”
Dembele now has four goals and five assists for La Liga leaders Barcelona and provided two more assists for France at the World Cup as he takes the right side of the pitch.
It’s something he’s done in an extraordinary way in Catalonia as well, becoming much more than just a cut and shoot winger, and now arguably Barca’s best playmaker with an incredible passing range.
It took a lot of love to get here though, with Dembele another young but top star who was much more concerned with the game than the football.
Spanish media were outraged that the 25-year-old was late for training and games while he stayed home watching TV with his controller, and it nearly ended in a messy divorce.
As Barcelona came under serious pressure over the summer to cut player salaries in order to invest, Dembele was targeted by the club’s hierarchy in the media for wanting to keep the money owed to him.
Sporting director Matheu Alemany said Dembele “must leave the club as soon as possible”, while Xavi added: “Dembele is important but it’s a club decision and we all agree on that – I don’t don’t think his absence had an impact on the team.”
It was music to the ears of his former Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel, who was desperate to bring him to Chelsea, but in the end Dembele agreed to new terms.
Posting a statement ahead of his re-signing, he wrote: “For four years there has been gossip about me, there have been shameful lies about me for the sole purpose of hurting me.
“I never answered, but today it’s over.
“I will respond without giving in to any blackmail, I dismiss anyone who thinks I am not committed to the sports project, I am still under contract and I am fully involved and at the disposal of my coach, I am not a man who gives in to blackmail.
Despite the clear signs that his Barca career was on the verge of collapse, he is now one of their most important players, and the same can be said for France.
And unlike many others in his career, England will have to be careful not to underestimate France’s secret weapon.
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