He's clearly the type to take risks. On the field as in life. Ousmane Dembélé embarked on a rather daring bet with his friends. “I can't tell you how many goals I told them I was going to score, but there is something to be won: Pateks and Rolexes. So I hope I'll score a lot of goals“, confided the PSG striker with a broad smile after giving PSG victory against Monaco in the Champions Trophy, Sunday in Doha (1-0). Rather daring for a player who has never reached the bar 15 goals per season.
Dembélé did not want to reveal the figure in question. But since we're talking numbers, his are pretty good. Already a scorer against Lyon (3-1) and author of a double in Monaco (2-4) before the break, the former Barcelona player has now scored four goals in his last four matches in all competitions with this new achievement against the ASM. His 9th of the season. A total far from impressive considering the statistics of the greatest scorers on the planet. But it is no less significant.
The best performance of his career
The French international has already scored more than in the last four years. He came within five points of his personal best, with 14 goals scored for Barça in 2018-19. One of the four seasons that Dembélé has completed with 10 or more goals in all competitions. The other three date back to 2020-21 with Barcelona (11 goals), 2016-17 with Borussia Dortmund (10 goals) and 2015-16 with Rennes (12 goals). Figures which above all reflect that number 10 of PSG is not really in the scorers category.
Dembélé has often been singled out for this, rather unfairly as his role as a winger and his profile position him more as a creator rather than a finisher. But the native of Vernon has such ease in creating opportunities that his lack of efficiency in the last gesture inevitably generates a bit of frustration. His performance in front of goal is no less honorable. His average of 0.42 goals per match in all competitions is even the highest of his career, just ahead of his Rennes season (0.41), almost ten years ago. Based on 42 matches, his total in his first year at PSG, Dembélé would complete the exercise with 17 goals. Without being an impressive figure, it would be a personal best.
Playing in the middle doesn't change everything
He's not really one, but at least Dembélé has never looked more like a goalscorer than this season. The context lent itself well to this with the departure of Kylian Mbappé last summer, which left PSG without a designated finisher. The Bondynois not replaced, the responsibility for scoring fell to the other attackers at Luis Enrique's disposal, notably Bradley Barcola (10 goals) and Gonçalo Ramos, long injured in the first half of the season (4 goals since his resumption at the end of November) . But also to Dembélé.
Positioned from time to time in a central attacking role, the Frenchman also finds himself more often in the zone of truth, and in more favorable positions to score than as a winger. He thus scored a typical center-forward goal during the victory against Lyon. Dembélé was lined up in this position against Monaco in the Champions Trophy, but it was when he was repositioned as a right winger after Gonçalo Ramos came on that he found the net at the end of added time. Whether he is more prolific does not necessarily depend on his place on the pitch.
Freedom always better exploited
It is rather the continuation of a process of learning Luis Enrique's game plan. Danger can come from anywhere, and the Blues winger is positioning himself better and better to take advantage of the spaces this creates in the opposing defense. “Ousmane can play in the center but appear on the wingexplained the Parisian coach on Sunday. As Lee can play on the right and manifest himself in the center. Same thing for the laterals. Same thing for the backgrounds. This is not a problem for us. The fact that a player has a specific initial position does not absolutely mean that he cannot leave this area to another player. It’s even one of our specialties.”
But this is not a big news. Dembélé already highlighted the virtues of Luis Enrique's system last season. “It gives me a lot more freedomhe explained last June. At Barça, I was much more stuck to the line. With Luis Enrique I can play 10, on the side, false 9 too. He tells me to go all over the field.” Particularly in the area, where he has been more often skilful lately. A success that PSG will really need in this crucial month of January. Dembélé too. If only to win his bet.
