You were probably not surprised to see Ousmane Dembélé among the five nominated for the trophy for best player in Ligue 1. Already rewarded last year, the Parisian striker will be battling this season with his teammates Vitinha and Nuno Mendes, as well as with Marseillais Mason Greenwood and Lensois Florian Thauvin.
There is, however, a small anomaly in all this. It lies in the fact that Dembélé has played very little in Ligue 1 this season. Due to his injuries and Luis Enrique’s management of his playing time, the Ballon d’Or only played 19 games out of 30, and not even half as a starter.
Dembélé, a third time in Ligue 1
“Dembouz”’s playing time in the championship? Just 930 minutes, or just over a third of the possible minutes (2,700). His playing time in Ligue 1, far from that of Warren Zaire-Emery (2,367 minutes) is the 18th in the Parisian squad. He played less than the two goalkeepers, Matvey Safonov and Lucas Chevalier. We saw him less than Lucas Beraldo, Lee Kang-In, Senny Mayulu and Gonçalo Ramos.
Of course, this low playing time did not prevent Dembélé from being effective. He is the club’s joint top scorer in the league (10 goals, tied with Bradley Barcola), and second best passer (6) just behind Vitinha (7).
The conclusion that we can draw is that Dembélé has taken on such a dimension since last season. Even with a third time in the league, it is him that the players think of (they are the ones who vote) when choosing the best player in Ligue 1.
