MichaelBBack
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 16 May 2014
- Messages
- 733
A lot of teams are in for Dembélé, City included. As I live in Rennes and watch the team each week, I thought I might as well start the thread.
To the uninitiated, Dembélé is an 18 year old winger. He broke into the Rennes first team earlier this season and has been one of the club's standout performers by far. To be honest, we rely on him to win us games. Just the other week, in a match against Lille, we got a penalty and Ousmane was the one to step up and bury it. There were lots of other, much more experienced players on the pitch, but he did what needed to be done. That statement sort of sums up the player, really. He plays with confidence and never seems to be afraid of big matches or high pressure situations. He always looks like he's just playing with some mates.
He can play on either wing and has even been tested up front, but he's most effective on the right. I believe, according to some stats tables I saw recently, he has the best dribble success rating out of any u21 player in Europe, which isn't bad at all. It's not surprising either. He loves to have the ball and he loves to storm down the wing and then cut inside and smash it with his left foot. One problem Rennes fans have with him is his selfishness. He often tries to do a bit too much, take on one player too many, or go for the shot when he'd be better off crossing. Still, the lad's only 18 years old so that sort of thing is to be expected really. There's a little video in the link below of one of his most impressive little moments of the season so far.
https://pbs.twimg.com/tweet_video/CZWYV5zWEAAJwoB.mp4
He's scored 5 goals and nabbed 2 assists in 14 appearances so far this season. In a league as defensive as Ligue 1, those are very good stats, especially for a kid. Allegedly, Rennes have been asking for 30 million euros for him. Over on our Rennes forums, some of the more optimistic fans want 50 million. Personally, I don't think he's worth anything like that just yet, but that's how modern football is going. He could easily go on to become an excellent player, but it would still be a bit of a risk to spend such a huge amount on an 18 year old with less than a full season under his belt. Unfortunately, United have gone and messed things up quite a bit thanks to the Martial signing. French media and clubs are now constantly expecting clubs like City and Chelsea to come in with 50 or 60 million for kids who have barely done anything.
Last summer, Ousmane came very close to leaving the club. It was quite a high profile dispute and most fans were quite pissed off with him. It seemed like he was pushing for more money and a spot in the first team squad, with most people thinking he was pushing well above his weight. Luckily, he stuck around and has now proven that he was right to be so annoyed. He's clearly got the talent and has been one of the highlights of Rennes' season so far. Still, some people still worry that he isn't massively attached to the club or its fans, and would probably jump at the first opportunity to move to a big club. I hope he sticks around for another season, but if City's interest does ramp up then he's certainly got the potential to be a big player for the future.