Ex-FC Barcelona Star Dembele Explains Exit For Paris Saint-Germain
Ex-FC Barcelona star Ousmane Dembele has explained why he left the club to sign for Paris Saint-Germain this summer, in an interview with L’Equipe.
Joining the Catalans from Borussia Dortmund in 2017, with then-president Josep Bartomeu using $112 million (€105 million) of the Neymar money received from PSG that year, Dembele suffered injury-stricken years as a Blaugrana winger.
Towards the end of his time in Catalonia, however, head coach Xavi Hernandez took the 26-year-old under his wing when most wanted to leave the club on a free transfer last year.
Rather than listening to the calls to make Dembele watch the rest of the 2021/2022 season from the stands, however, Xavi took a punt on the World Cup winner and converted him into one of the top providers of assists in Europe.
Dembele eventually renewed terms with Barca which came with a low-ball €5o million release clause.
With the player seemingly happy at Camp Nou, it was a shock to many when news emerged that his agent Moussa Sissoko was negotiating a switch to Qatari-backed PSG eventually completed in mid-August.
Giving his first interview since changing employers, Dembele explained how he ended up leaving the La Liga champions.
“Yes, I said I would stay at Barcelona,” he noted. “But after having contacts with PSG I was convinced that I should leave.”
“I come from Evreux, not far from here. Everyone here is talking about Paris Saint-Germain.” Because of this, Dembele thinks that “it was written that one day I would sign for this club”.
Still life has not gone swimmingly for Dembele in his nation’s capital thus far, with ‘The Mosquito’ struggling to put up the same numbers as he did on Spanish shores.
He stresses that he doesn’t “judge my performances by the goals I score”.
“You can score a goal and play a bad game, and you can not score and have been very good,” Dembele pointed out, vowing to improve his statistics.
“I sleep very well at night and always trust myself. Even when it doesn’t go well, I try again,” he concluded on this topic.
