Ousmane Dembele is an extremely polarising player for club and country. The French forward is on the books at PSG, the defending champions of France. Despite an impressive resume, there is some frustration that Dembele, who is approaching his peak years has not realised his true potential yet. He has had great campaigns in his career but there has never been an exceptional season where he has stood out.
Dembele broke out as a teenager in professional football with Rennes. It only took him solitary seasons in France and Germany to earn a high-profile move to Barcelona. Such was his reputation in footballing circles back then. It is hard to quantify his measure of success in Spain but he moved to France again in the summer of 2023 and is looking comfortable at PSG.
Ousmane Dembele Bio
| Full Name | Masour Ousmane Dembele |
| Date of Birth | May 15, 1997 |
| Nationality | French |
| Birth Place | Vernon, France |
| Height | 1.78m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Current Team(s) | PSG, France |
| Position | Wide Forward |
| Debut | November 6, 2015 |
| Networth | €100 million |
| Weekly Salary | €384,600 per week |
| Agent | Moussa Sissoko |
| Contract Expiry | June 2028 |
| Instagram Followers | 14.6 Million |
Ousmane Dembele’s Net Worth and Salary
Dembele was a hot property at youth levels in France. His first senior contract was signed when he was 18 at Rennes. Dortmund tripled his wages and lured him to Germany by offering a €2.8 million contract. These were made to look like numbers for kids as Barcelona increased his salary by sixfold within a year.
Along with a bumper signing bonus he was set to earn €12 million a year as a 20-year-old. Dembele later signed a contract with a pay cut in 2022 as Barcelona was in a severe crisis then. His agent Moussa Sissoko was a vocal force in finishing a move to PSG. The agent negotiated well to secure another contract that gives him a yearly pay of around €20 million.
Along with those weekly wages, Dembele is an ambassador for multiple shoe brands and sports Adidas cleats. They have helped him amass a net worth of around €100 million.
Ousmane Dembele Family
Dembele’s family details aren’t well documented but the details of his parents’ heritage are known. His mother is of Mauritanian-Senegalese ancestry and was from Waly DIantang. His Father Seydou Dembele is of Malian ancestry. With France being a favourable destination for immigrants from Western and Northern Africa, his parents moved there.
Dembele along with his brother Yassine were born in Vernon of the Normandy region in France. Seydou Dembele was an amateur footballer and both his sons took after him. Yassine Dembele also played in professional leagues in France.
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Ousmane Dembele Girlfriend
Ousmane Dembele is a married man already! The star winger tied the knot with famous tiktoker Rima Adbouche. Rima who grew up in France has Moroccan ancestry.
The couple exchanged wedding vows in 2021 and announced the birth of their first child in September 2022.
Dembele who wants to lie low outside of football was caught in a racism row along with fellow French international Antoine Griezmann. During the duo’s time in Barcelona in 2021, they were filmed racially abusing two Japanese mechanics. They later came out and apologised for their behaviour.
Ousmane Dembele Club Career Stats
Dembele having football genes in his blood, took to the game very soon. At just 7 years of age, he was spotted by the local club Evreux. His first big breakthrough came at Rennes when he represented them at the youth level.
Dembele made a name for himself as a pacy and agile dribbler. He used to glide with the ball at times and constantly takes on opposing full-backs. His intelligent runs in behind combined with dangerous crossing and a vicious shot off either foot made him an explosive forward. Ambidexterity was another weapon in his arsenal as he used to be incredibly unpredictable.
He debuted for Rennes in the French league in 2015. A first career hat trick at Rennes in 2016 earned him the comparison to Cristiano Ronaldo from Rennes’ sporting director Mikael Silvestre. He only spent one full season with them before moving abroad.
Borussia Dortmund famous for giving a proper pathway to all the exciting talents from around the world came calling. Dembele signed a five-year deal at the Signal Iduna Park. He was a runaway star in Germany as he scored six goals in the league and assisted 12 times. He was in the team of the season and won the prestigious Rookie of the Season award.
Dembele’s real moment of glory came for Dortmund in the DFB Pokal Cup. Ousmane Dembele scored and assisted in the semi-finals against Bayern Munich as they edged them 3-2. In the finals against Frankfurt, he opened the scoring via a trademark move. Dembele cut in from the right and blasted a left-footed shot into the top corner. Dortmund went on to clinch the trophy after winning 2-1 and lifted their first title in over five years. Ousmane Dembele was named the player of the match in the finals.
Neymar Jr left Barcelona in the summer of 2017 in a world record move that cost €222 million. The Catalan giants on the lookout for replacements locked Dembele as the target. Despite only being 20, they decided that Dembele with his potential was the right one to match the equally flashy and lively Neymar Jr. Barcelona had a lot of cash to spend as well as they made Dembele the joint second most expensive signing at that time at €105 million.
Dembele had a dream start to life as he assisted Luis Suarez’s goal off the bench on his debut. However, it quickly turned into a nightmare for him. Dembele injured his hamstring on his first start for the club. He was out on the sidelines for four months before making a cameo only to be further ruled out for four more weeks.
A first goal for Barcelona came in March in the Champions League and in April he scored his first league goal. Even without Dembele’s contributions, Barcelona went on to seal a domestic double with league and cup.
His most successful was in 2018/19 as Dembele scored the winner in the Supercopa de Espana. With 8 goals and 5 assists and a string of good performances, he helped Barcelona defend their La Liga total. Despite having a decent output, Dembele was criticised for his decision-making in the final third and fluffing his lines at crucial moments. It was his highest-scoring season in the league as niggling injuries haunted him.
The 19/20 season saw him take virtually no part in their journey as a couple of hamstring injuries kept him off the field. Similar injuries plagued the following season as well.
Dembele was named the league’s best playmaker in the 2021/22 season as he assisted 13 goals. In his final season at the club, he helped them to another La Liga title in 2023. That was his final contribution to the club as a move awaited him in the summer.
Neymar Jr was on the move again in 2023 from PSG this time and ironically, Dembele was his chosen successor. This time Dembele wanted the move too as he looked to revitalise his career in his native France. He swapped sides in a €50 million move to the French capital.
Dembele added 6 goals and 12 assists in his first campaign with PSG en route to the league and cup double. However, despite a heroic performance against his ex-club Barcelona in the quarters, they were knocked out in the semis. Champions League glory continued to elude him.
The same injury and inconsistent output complaints persist against him at PSG as well.
| Clubs | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| Rennes | 29 | 12 | 5 |
| Borussia Dortmund | 50 | 10 | 20 |
| Barcelona | 186 | 40 | 42 |
| PSG | 59 | 11 | 17 |
Ousmane Dembele International Career Stats
Dembele’s breakthrough at Rennes and Dortmund instantly earned him a spot in the French national side. He was very quickly upscaled to the senior team after proving to be too good for the junior levels.
He debuted as an 18-year-old for France in a friendly against Italy in 2016. In 2017, he scored his first international goal against England. He quickly became a regular in the national squad and despite an injury-hit 2017/18 season, he was named in the squad for the 2018 World Cup.
It was another teenager making all the headlines in Russia as Dembele found himself on the bench. Kylian Mbappe, Paul Pogba and Antoine Griezmann starred for France as they lifted the World Cup and Dembele despite making his World Cup debut earlier was an unused substitute in the final.
A disappointing Euros followed in 2021 as Dembele delayed surgery to make the tournament. In the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Dembele had a better showing. Despite not scoring once, he assisted a couple of goals in crucial stages. Another final awaited France in their hunt for consecutive World Cups. Dembele conceded a penalty to Argentina in the first half and was withdrawn just 41 minutes into the game as France were getting played off the park by their opponents.
| Appearances | 53 |
| Goals | 6 |
| Assists | 3 |
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Ousmane Dembele Injury
Ousmane Dembele’s injury history precedes his reputation. Quite unfortunately he is the target of trolls and abuses from fans for getting injured. Though there is nothing in his hands, he always ends up paying the price.
Dembele had no history of injuries before his dream move to Barcelona. So it can be inferred that the first injury he suffered in Catalonia became a trigger for his future problems. His hamstrings especially gave up owing to his pace. He had to undergo the blade multiple times in 2020 and 2021 to be injury-free.
But Dembele was not catching a break as ankle and knee issues started troubling him when the hamstring ones subsided.
After the move to PSG, it is safe to say that Ousmane Dembele has been relatively injury-free. His minutes were carefully managed and the intensity of Ligue 1 being lower helped his cause. It is to be seen whether he would be the key man to lead them to the much elusive CL trophy.