Two years ago, Ousmane Dembele was playing in France’s lower divisions with the modest Stade Rennais. On Friday, he became the second-most expensive player in soccer history when Barcelona picked him to replace Neymar in a deal that could reach 147 million euros (US$175 million).
The talented 20-year-old French forward suddenly turned into a star by joining the Spanish powerhouse in a transfer surpassed only by the Brazilian star’s recent move to Paris Saint-Germain.
Now the pressure is on Dembele to prove his worth and show that Barca did the right thing by choosing him to play alongside Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez.
Photo: AP
Barca is hoping to re-establish its successful attacking trio, so it is probably no coincidence that there is a lot of Neymar in the young Dembele — from the quickness to the nifty skills, to the audacity, to the ability to dazzle.
Barca is already calling him the “prince of the dribble,” someone who can amaze fans with his “sublime skill and gutsy flair.”
The club boasted Dembele as one of the “most promising young stars in European football,” a player who has a “golden future.”
And it praised him as being “versatile, spectacular and efficient,”’ someone “almost impossible” to be stopped by the rival defenses.
“He is a player who generates a lot of excitement and a lot of expectations,” Barca coach Ernesto Valverde said. “We expect a lot from him.”
Dembele has already shown signs that he has the potential to shine and one day reach the same heights of someone like Neymar.
He scored the winner when France defeated England 3-2 in a friendly in June, in what was his seventh appearance with the French national team. One dazzling moment in that game gave fans a glimpse of Dembele’s talent.
Early in the second half, he picked up a loose ball on defense and flicked it past England defender Kyle Walker — one of the quickest in the Premier League — and left him trailing on a pulsating 60m run toward the goal.
Although slight in build, Dembele has huge upper-body strength, enabling him to ride heavy challenges and use his body to hold off opponents running alongside him. He is a constant threat with his assists, and can play well on both flanks of the field and through the middle.
“You can’t tell if he’s right-footed or left-footed, he can strike with both feet,” Julien Stephan, Dembele’s coach in Rennes’ reserve team, said in an interview on the club’s Web site. “He’s a great competitor and he is not bothered by the pressure. He plays naturally whether it’s in front of 3,000, 30,000 or 100,000 people.”
It has been a rapid rise for the lean forward since he was first spotted by a Rennes scout as an eight-year-old in the northern city of Evreux. The club monitored him closely and brought him to its youth academy by the time he was 13.
Coaches were quickly impressed and he was promoted to Rennes’ reserve team in the beginning of the 2014 to 2015 season.
“Everyone was talking to me about another player his age, but I only saw him,” said Armand Djire, the Rennes recruiter who got a first look at Dembele. “We brought the family to Rennes and took care of their professional and personal needs. We did everything possible so Ousmane could arrive at [the main team] in the best possible condition.”
By the time he was 17, Dembele had already made his first-team debut in the French Ligue 1, scoring his first goal as a professional in a match against Girondins de Bordeaux only two weeks after his debut.
In his two seasons as a professional in with the club from northern France, Dembele played 78 matches, scoring 22 goals and setting up 25 others.
He became a top prospect for European clubs, and Borussia Dortmund signed him last year in a transfer worth 15 million euros.
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