At the age of 27, Ousmane Dembélé (33 goals, 12 assists, 45 games in all competitions) is in the best form of his career this season. But in the past, the Paris Saint-Germain striker struggled to confirm the full extent of his potential. Which even earned him the qualified as autistic by Jorge Sampaoli after Euro 2024.
“When he overflows, the other players are like spectators who look at how the action will end. They know that he plays like an autistic: he begins the action and ends it alone. He does not have the ability to make a teammate shine, he just knows how to be shined by himself ”, had he launched for So foot.
Sampaoli deciphers the game of Dembélé
In a recent interview with daily Sportthe former coach of Olympique de Marseille wanted to explain himself. According to him, his remarks exceeded his thought and betrayed his initial intention, which was simply to underline a lack of collective game with the 2018 world champion.
“I was very bad in the expression. I am very emotional and passionate, and all I meant is that Dembélé is not an associative player. He looks at his opponents and the goal much more than his teammates. For me, it is one of the best in the world, but in a context like that of Barça, where the association is necessary, it isolates itself and is not as efficient. He plays his game, he does it very well, but I give great importance to authority and association football ”, said the Argentinian technician.
Aware of the scope of his words, Sampaoli had already recognized his error: “I never intended to refer to autism. I apologize to everyone. I wanted to talk about individuality. More than ever, pay attention to the words used. »»
