Congratulations, Ousmane: From Bust to Ballon d’Or

August 2017. Neymar Jr. has left FC Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in a historic deal after the French football club triggered his €222 million release clause. The Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, and Neymar trio has been broken up. In search of the missing piece, Barcelona aggressively pursued and signed 20-year-old French wonderboy Ousmane Dembele from Borussia Dortmund for over €105 million, the second-highest paid transfer ever at the time, only behind the recently departed Neymar. 

The stakes could not be any higher for Dembele, joining one of the biggest clubs in the world, playing alongside the greatest player of all time, Messi, and trying to fill the shoes of one of football’s greatest in Neymar Jr. Safe to say, the lights were indeed too bright for the young star. Dembele managed to rack up a combined nine goals and assists in 17 matches in the 2017-2018 campaign, respectable for his first season with the Blaugrana. However, when he wasn’t on the field, Dembele was battling injury after injury, with his first hamstring injury sidelining him from Sept. 17, 2017, to Jan. 1, 2018. A subsequent injury occurred Jan. 15, lasting until Feb. 10. For many players, these injuries would’ve been bad enough for their careers. For Ousmane, it was only the start.

Barcelona won the double, the La Liga and Copa del Rey, in 2018, but their season was still considered a failure given their embarrassing exit from the UEFA Champions League (UCL) at the hands of AS Roma. The 2018-2019 season approached as Messi, now captain, promised to bring the UCL trophy back to Camp Nou, turning up the already-high expectations for the team and Dembele. The French star would proceed to miss a combined 18 games in the 2018-2019 season, after garnering just eight goals and five assists. Despite this, Barcelona still looked like the favorite to win it all that year. They had won La Liga and the Supercopa de España, and the Champions League was within their grasp. It all led up to the first leg in the semi-final against Liverpool.

Thanks to two goals from Messi and another from Suarez, Barcelona earned a 3-0 lead against Liverpool. In the 97th minute, Messi and Dembele led a breakaway attempt to get a fourth and deciding goal to put the game away, punching their ticket to the UCL final. Messi sets up Dembele right in front of the goal — an easy chance by all means. Dembele receives the ball and kicks it straight at the Liverpool keeper, preventing the opportunity to go up four goals. Dembele’s miss wouldn’t be so bad, though, right? Barcelona was up by three goals; what’s the worst that could happen? A 4-0 comeback from Liverpool, who don’t even have their star player, Mohamed Salah? Impossible. 

On May 7, 2019, Liverpool pulled off the impossible, winning 4-0 against Barcelona and, weeks later, claiming the Champions League trophy. The match is considered one of the most spectacular comebacks in football history. The Blaugrana couldn’t stand the mockery and slander brought to their club because of the match, not to mention the embarrassing back-to-back years of losing the European competition. The worst part? Dembele battled another hamstring injury, missing the second leg entirely. From here on out, these two games would define Dembele’s career at Barcelona: a legacy of injury and failure.

While they were utterly harsh, Dembele’s critics had their merits. Dembele missed 92 games from the 2019-20 season to the 2022-23 season, and had 36 goals and assists in 81 games played. Dembele’s on-the-field results were poor, but his off-the-field tendencies bothered fans and club legends even more. In 2018, a Spanish newspaper reported that Dembele missed a match against Real Betis and training because he played video games with friends all night. Dembele was also known for embracing an unhealthy diet, firing his chef in favor of eating fast food. While Dembele denied these claims, the damage had already been done. Fans saw his poor performance, injuries, and local reports on his off-field behavior, and tore him a new one. 

Barcelona, a club in financial turmoil, never recovered from the Liverpool loss until they decided to reform the team without Messi, who departed for PSG in 2021 due to financial, contractual, and registration issues. As early as January 2022, as part of the restructuring at Barcelona, the club began heavily pressuring Dembele to depart from the team after Dembele’s agents rejected multiple offers from the club to bring back the French player. The club eventually brought back Dembele on a two-year deal through 2024 on July 14, 2022, but the ensuing public turmoil would signal the end of Dembele’s tenure at the Blaugrana.

In a messy, drama-filled move, Barcelona and PSG worked out a €50 million transfer for Dembele on Aug. 12, 2023. To Barcelona, it was another financial mistake gone. To PSG, it was another piece in the larger puzzle. Dembele had the chance to rebuild his career after being written off as a perennial bust, the poster boy of Barcelona’s biggest mistakes. The problem lay within, however, as Dembele still battled injury and inconsistency, as reported by local French outlets. His slight injury in December 2023 sidelined Dembele for just three games, an improvement from his Barcelona days, but his inconsistency still stuck with Parisians. 

However, Dembele would prove his loyalty to PSG against Barcelona later that year, scoring and celebrating in front of the Blaugrana faithful in a crucial 4-1 win, receiving Man of the Match for his efforts. As Barcelona fans booed his every move, Dembele burned any remaining bridges with the club and embraced destiny with PSG. While PSG lost in the UCL semifinals to Dembele’s former club, Borussia Dortmund, the French player had a semi-successful year trying to revive his career. The final test came, however, once star striker Kylian Mbappe left PSG for Real Madrid, leaving Dembele as the club’s sole star player for the 2024-2025 season. 

With the lights brighter than ever, Dembele took the world by storm, amassing seven goals and assists in his first six Ligue 1 matches for PSG. His consistency, awaited by so many in the past, was finally on full display. His success didn’t go without problems, though, as coach Luis Enrique momentarily benched the star against Arsenal in the UCL, citing a lack of respect for team expectations as the issue. These problems were nothing new for Dembele, but his response certainly was. Dembele kept his head down, listened to Enrique, and returned to form once he rejoined the team. 

As Dembele racked up goals and assists, the team’s overall performance seemed even better compared to last year’s, to the shock of many, considering Mbappe’s departure. Dembele scored back-to-back hat tricks against Stuttgart and Brest, then back-to-back two-goal performances against Monaco and Brest. His form continued until the UCL Round of 16, losing the first match 0-1 to Liverpool. Determined to change his destiny, Dembele needed to beat the team that condemned him to become one of the footballing world’s biggest laughingstocks just six years prior. In the second leg against Liverpool, the French star, relentlessly pressuring the Liverpool defense, made use of a miscommunication and scored the tying goal just 12 minutes into the match. Dembele finally overcame the team that haunted his dreams for many years, and didn’t slow his momentum.

Dembele would score or assist once in each UCL match going forward, proving successful in the quarterfinal win against Aston Villa and semifinal win against Arsenal. PSG would face Inter Milan in the UCL final, ultimately decimating the Italian side 5-0, thanks partly to Dembele’s two assists. Like that, Dembele had become the number one option in a domestic treble and Champions League-winning team. 

On Sept. 22, in his first-ever nomination for the award, Dembele won the Ballon d’Or, the award for the best football player in the past year. In his speech, Dembele praised his current and former clubs, and particularly thanked Messi for his mentorship over the years: “To have been able to play with [Messi], I have learned so much from him.” He also emphasized his growth as a player and person throughout his career. “When you’re young, you think of winning these trophies,” Dembele said. “But over time … you understand that winning as a team is what really matters.” 

Even a year ago, almost anyone would laugh off the notion of Ousmane Dembele winning a Ballon d’Or. He was injury-prone, had little impact on his team, and wasn’t a team player. Dembele’s story is one of resilience and growth, as his progress only paid off once he began to focus on the bigger picture: the team’s success. He’s proved everyone wrong, creating one of football’s best comeback stories. From bust to Ballon d’Or. From the man who missed the sitter against Liverpool all those years ago to the UCL Player of the Season. Congratulations, Ousmane. You’ve earned it.