2 years ago, Ousmane Dembele got his career revived under Xavi Hernandez. After being one of the most disappointing pieces in the Barcelona lineup since his move to Catalonia, Dembele finally saw a string of good performances under Xavi. That was before he betrayed the club which had paid upwards of £145 Million to join PSG. Now recently, he allegedly asked his Manager, Luis Enrique to “Treat him like Messi” during an argument he had with Enrique after the game against Rennes.
This level of dumb-mindedness has to be studied. Last year at PSG, Ousmane Dembele recorded only 3 goals and 8 assists in Ligue 1, and 2 goals and 1 assist in the Champions League. Miserable numbers for a winger starting for the most dominant team in Ligue 1, a league reputed for being the weakest in the top 5 leagues in Europe.
Yes, he sure has had a strong start to the season and is also a leader in the team dynamics, especially in the attack after Kylian Mbappe’s move to Real Madrid, but not far ago, he had an overtly disappointing Euros campaign with France where he contributed literally nothing to the French team’s run to the Euros 2024 semifinals.
Ousmane Dembele was being bullied by his own fans when he was at Barcelona. Yes, the same fans who had seen Messi’s magic flourish over the best part of the 21st century. And not more than 24 months later, this failure of a prodigy wants his Head Coach to “treat him like Messi”? That’s just absurd.
But perhaps Ousmane Dembele didn’t factor in the kind of man Luis Enrique is. The Spanish manager did not think twice before deciding to teach Dembele a lesson. And a strict one at that. Following Dembele’s rather controversial claims to treat him like the Greatest Ever, Luis Enrique has decided to exclude the PSG number 10 for perhaps the biggest game of the season yet.
Dembele hasn’t been featured in PSG’s official squad against Arsenal in their all-important upcoming Champions League fixture away in the city of London. Kudos to Luis Enrique for showing a great example of how each and every player should not get ahead of themselves and keep working hard. Dembele was also seen eating a Pizza during the post-match speech of Didier Deschamps after France’s 3-0 win against Luxembourg in early June this year.
In addition to excluding Dembele, Luis Enrique also stated, “There was a problem with the player’s responsibility to the team.” Further adding, “It looks like we never lost a game with Dembélé… no, we lost against Newcastle, Milan, Borussia Dortmund and Barça at home… If someone doesn’t comply with team rules, it means he’s not ready for a key week like this one”.
It’s justified to say that in a lot of different situations, Ousmane Dembele has not behaved professionally at all in his mostly-injured career. Do you feel like Luis Enrique’s decision to exclude Dembele from the Squad was too harsh? Or was it right? Let us know in the comments below.
