PSG: Coach Luis Enrique praises Ousmane Dembélé’s enormous influence

“He doesn’t listen to criticism”

PSG coach Luis Enrique has praised winger Ousmane Dembélé highly and given the former Dortmund professional an excellent reference since his arrival last summer. The 26-year-old Frenchman moved from FC Barcelona to Paris for 50 million euros – there Dembélé delivered decent, if by no means outstanding, figures with six goals in 16 games. His goals and assists came from twelve Ligue 1 matches, and Dembélé remained without a scorer in four Champions League games.

Enrique, quoted via Fabrizio Romano, still said: “I keep insisting on my point of view: Ousmane Dembélé is the most influential football player in the world. No doubt.” And with someone in mind who can change the rhythm of a game. The coach, who, like his highly praised professional, has only been working for PSG since 2023, explained: “He doesn’t care about mistakes. He keeps going, he loves trying things. He doesn’t listen to criticism, he always creates good things.”

In the ranking of the most valuable footballers in the world, Dembélé is currently outside the top 50 with 60 million euros. With numerous other stars including Bayern professionals Min-jae Kim and Dayot Upamecano, the attacker is tied for 64th place. “Luis Enrique paints the picture a little too cleanly, because Dembélé had a really difficult start to the season,” says Ronan Caroff, Area Manager France at Transfermarkt, describing the Spanish coach’s statements. Dembélé was described as one of the biggest disappointments of the start of the season at PSG – “in an attack that had become very dependent on Kylian Mbappé after the departure of Neymar and Lionel Messi”.

Caroff further explains: “It is also unlikely that Dembélé did not criticize himself but simply carried on until it worked. However, I agree that Dembélé can be one of the best wingers once he is in good form and has confidence. He just hasn’t quite found the right way to do it yet – but his November has shown signs of it.” The offensive man scored four of his six PSG scorer points in the last three matchdays.

Among the most valuable wingers in the world, Dembélé shares 16th place with Raphinha (FC Barcelona) and Jérémy Doku (Man City). His former record market value was 120 million euros at the beginning of 2019 – only 15 footballers have been valued higher in history. In the FC Barcelona jersey, Dembélé managed 40 goals and 43 assists in 185 games between 2017 and 2023, and in the BVB year 2016/17 there were ten goals and 22 assists in 50 matches.

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