Given the gap in the rankings with his runner-up Lamine Yamal, Ousmane Dembélé appears to be a legitimate Ballon d'Or. The Paris Saint-Germain striker is rewarded for his fantastic season with his club. On the other hand, it is clearly not with the Blues that he scored points.
This is also the main downside for Dembélé. In the history of the Ballon d'Or, we have rarely seen (if ever) a winner have so little influence on their national team.
Dembélé's statistical record with the Blues is quite low for a player of his standing. In 57 caps, the former Rennais has only scored 7 goals. And none during a Euro or a World Cup, despite the good performances of Didier Deschamps' men (to which he contributed).
Rabiot does as well as the Ballon d'Or
By comparison, Dembélé has scored as many goals for the France team as a defensive midfielder like Adrien Rabiot, who scored his 7th national goal against Azerbaijan (3-0) while celebrating… his 56th selection.
In his defense, we will point out that Dembélé, since his “transformation” as a center forward at PSG, has played little with the Blues. He scored in the Nations League quarter-final second leg in March against Croatia, a decisive goal. There was then this half against Spain (4-5) in June, and this entry into play against Ukraine in September, where he was injured.
