When Ousmane Dembele arrived at Barcelona for a nine-figure fee to replace Neymar in the summer of 2017, the hype was palpable.
The French star, who had just turned 20, was quickly dubbed a future Ballon d’Or winner and heir apparent to Lionel Messi, but after a debut which saw him provide an assist following a cameo off the bench, he suffered a hamstring injury in his first LaLiga start, ruling him out for four months.
What followed was something of a stop-start first three seasons in Catalonia, including a 2019-20 campaign which saw him make just five league appearances, before he began to clock up more games.
Ousmane Dembele on his early Barca struggles
“It was complicated, especially as I was coming to the club after just 18 months as a professional, with six months at Rennes and then a year at Dortmund. You arrive at 20 years old in a locker room like Barcelona with all the stars, with all the players I dreamed of playing for... it was just exceptional. Afterwards, you had to adapt. I wasn’t lucky for three or four years with injuries. When you could play, you had to adapt. When you couldn’t, you had to stay strong. But I was doing what I love and I was at the club of my dreams, Barcelona. It wasn’t easy, but after three or four years, things were much better.”
Dembele’s Nou Camp exit came in 2023, when he joined Paris Saint-Germain, with the player quick to dismiss the speculation at the time which suggested he did not enjoy the respect and esteem of his team-mates.
“I am happy with everything that happened at Barcelona, because that’s really where I grew as a person, both on the pitch and off it,” he continues. “I also made a lot of friends in Barcelona, with whom I still talk a lot. So it was just an exceptional time for me and, above all, it was a time of learning.”
Dembele’s marriage to his girlfriend Rima in December 2021 and the birth of his daughter the following September appeared to bring about a change in his attitude.
“Because I arrived at Barcelona with just a year and a half as a professional behind me, I didn’t go to the gym much, I went straight on to the pitch with a lot of energy – and some talent, too.
“After one injury, two, three, four injuries, you understand you have to take care of your body, that high-level football is demanding and it’s not just about talent, or waking up and going straight on to the pitch. You understand that anything can happen.
“I understood that I had to work, that I had to get stronger, that I had to eat well, sleep well. I understood all of that. And there you go, it’s paying off today at Paris Saint-Germain. I’m happy.”
These changes are perhaps one of the reasons why he has avoided injury since his time at Barcelona, with Dembele admitting that he knows his own body far better these days.
“Perfectly,” he says. “I know my body perfectly, how fast I should go, when I shouldn’t go. When I’m told not to go over 30km/h, I don’t go over 31; I stay at 30. I know when I’m tired, when I shouldn’t train, when I should train and when I need to strengthen myself, too. Now, for the past three or four years, I really know it by heart.”
“When I retire... what don’t I want to eat?” he asks. “As for hamburgers and pizzas, there are always some after matches. Not all the time, but especially after games. All players eat hamburgers or pizzas after matches. I don’t eat too much chocolate, so it’s OK. But I still eat hamburgers and pizzas after games, and that’s not going to stop.”
