Ousmane Dembele deserves to win the 2025 Ballon d’Or.
That’s the opinion of Arsenal and France legend Emmanuel Petit – who has been holding monitor of Dembele’s wonderful marketing campaign at Paris Saint-Germain with 33 targets and 12 assists to his title.
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He has already led Luis Enrique’s aspect to a Ligue 1 title because the French giants remained undefeated within the league till late April.
Dembele has additionally impressed in Europe, scoring towards Arsenal within the first leg of their Champions League semi-final tie, placing PSG one step nearer to that elusive European crown they crave so badly.
“I feel Dembele is having his greatest season to date,” Petit informed the talkSPORT Breakfast Present.
“His title is on the Ballon d’Or on the finish of the season.”
Forward of the second leg in Paris on Wednesday night time – reside on talkSPORT – Petit was requested whether or not Mikel Arteta might order his gamers to double up on Dembele.
The previous French worldwide responded: “I feel the star just isn’t Dembele. The star is the staff.
“That is what modified dramatically in PSG.
“They’ve been right here for in all probability 12 years [the owners] and so they’ve been splashing a lot cash on large names, large stars, large egos and that was the issue.
“Final 12 months, earlier than the change, the entire of France hated PSG due to what they have been doing with their cash.”
Dembele is competing with Mohamed Salah, Lamine Yamal and Raphinha for title of greatest participant this 12 months.
Ousmane Dembele’s Ballon d’Or rivals
Take a look at their stats this season
Raphinha (Barcelona)
Kylian Mbappe (Actual Madrid)
Lamine Yamal (Barcelona)
Mo Salah (Liverpool)
Robert Lewandowski (Barcelona)
Pedri (Barcelona)
Vinicius Junior (Actual Madrid)
Harry Kane (Bayern Munich)
Jude Bellingham (Actual Madrid)
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Regardless of having a report breaking season at Liverpool whereas successful the Premier League, Salah did not go far within the Champions League after a spherical of 16 loss to PSG.
The Actual Madrid trio of Mbappe, Bellingham and Vinicius Jr – regardless of having good numbers – will doubtless concede the La Liga title to Barcelona after being knocked out of Europe’s high membership competitors by Arsenal.
Yamal and Raphinha may have closed the hole on the award however they did not get previous Inter Milan on their solution to the ultimate in Munich.
Beforehand, PSG have damaged switch data for Neymar and Mbappe, whereas bringing in stars reminiscent of Lionel Messi and Sergio Ramos.
Regardless of the star energy, they’ve been unable to ship a Champions League – the closest they bought being a 1-0 remaining loss to Bayern Munich in 2020.
However following the exit of Mbappe to Actual Madrid in 2024, Enrique has been capable of deploy a method of soccer that has turned PSG into arguably the world’s greatest aspect.
Petit continued: “The communication was dangerous, the behaviour of gamers on and off the pitch was dangerous. They modified the whole lot. Luis Enrique had a terrific imaginative and prescient.
“We didn’t perceive what he was attempting to do initially with this younger staff. It’s in all probability the youngest staff because the Qataris have come to the membership.
“I’m not a PSG fan however I’m beginning to like them. It’s very bizarre to say that for me however I actually admire them due to what they’re doing on the pitch but in addition what they’re attempting to do within the membership.
“The behaviour of the gamers is great and they’re all working laborious for the staff. There are not any large egos.”
Alongside Dembele, new signing Khvicha Kvaratskhelia is not going to hesitate to tackle full-backs, as proven by his battle with Arsenal defender Jurrien Timber on the Emirates.
In midfield, Joao Neves and Vitinha calm the storm and management the tempo, popping passes between themselves or feeding the frontline.
Between the sticks, stands Gianluigi Donnarumma who measures six foot 5 inches.
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He was key to PSG’s 1-0 victory in north London, saving efforts from Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard.
Each side wish to seize solely their second ever ticket to the Champions League remaining.
