Former FC Barcelona star Ousmane Dembele has explained why he left Paris Saint-Germain this summer in an interview with L’Equipe.
Dembele, who joined the Catalans from Borussia Dortmund in 2017, with then-president Josep Bartomeu earning $112 million (€105 million) from PSG that year to buy him, suffered several seasons of injuries as a Blaugrana striker.
However, towards the end of Dembele’s time in Catalonia, head coach Xavi Hernandez took the 26-year-old under his wing when most were looking for him to leave the club on a free transfer last year.
Instead of heeding calls for Dembele to watch the rest of the 2021/2022 season from the stands, Xavi turned the World Cup winner into one of Europe’s passers-by.
Dembele renewed his contract with Barca, with a release clause of $53. 5 million (€50 million).
The player was probably at the Camp Nou, but for many it came as a surprise when news emerged that his agent Moussa Sissoko was negotiating a Qatar-backed move to PSG, although it all ended in mid-August.
In his first interview since changing employers, Dembele explained how he ended up leaving the La Liga champions.
“Yes, I said I would stay in Barcelona,” he noted. But after having contacts with PSG, I convinced myself that I had to leave. “
Dembele said his teammate and great friend of Les Bleus, Kylian Mbappe, “didn’t come out to convince me” to make the jump to Ligue 1.
“I came to Paris because I love this club, it’s a French club and I love it,” Dembele.
“I come from Evreux, not from here. Everyone here is talking about Paris Saint-Germain. “
For this reason, Dembele believes that “it was written that one day I would sign for this club”.
So far, the still life has not gone well at all for Dembélé in the capital of his country, where “El Mosquito” suffers the same figures as on the Spanish coast.
He stresses, however, that “he judges my performances by the goals I score”.
“You can score a goal and have a bad game, but you can’t score and you’ve been very good,” Dembele, promising with his statistics.
“I sleep very well at night and I have confidence in myself. Even when it doesn’t go well, I check again,” he concluded.