Did Ousmane Dembélé Deserve To Win Ballon DOr?
Ballon d’Or season always brings debate among football fans and pundits.
There has never been and will never be a Ballon d’Or winner that everyone agrees on.
For years, the argument over who was most deserving of being called the best footballer in the world centered around two giants of the game, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Last year, Manchester City midfielder Rodri edged out Real Madrid star Vinícius Júnior for the award, prompting backlash from all associated with Los Blancos.
The 2025 edition has, in fairness, been less controversial than last year.
Following PSG’s dominant win in the UEFA Champions League Final, Ousmane Dembélé was a somewhat predictable recipient of football’s most prestigious individual accolade.
Still, strong arguments could be made in favour of others.
Dembélé’s biggest threat came in the form of Barcelona sensation Lamine Yamal, who finished as a worthy runner-up to the 28-year-old ex-Barça boy.
This data analysis contextualizes the 2024/2025 season for the Ballon d’Or top two by examining Dembélé vs Yamal stats.
We’ll use statistics to help compare and contrast the 2024/2025 season for Ousmane Dembélé at PSG and Lamine Yamal at Barcelona, respectively, outlining how they earned the right to battle it out for the Ballon d’Or trophy last week.
The Ballon d’Or isn’t just about numbers, however.
Narrative also weighs heavily on those entrusted with selecting the winner.
Therefore, this Ballon DOr analysis also aims to tell the story of what the 2024/2025 campaign meant to both players, in conjunction with the player performance data.
Ousmane Dembélé Scout Report At PSG 2024/2025
Let’s start with the man who ultimately collected the honours last week in Paris, Ousmane Dembélé.
On the night when he was prevented from helping his teammates avoid defeat to arch-rivals Olympique de Marseille in Ligue 1 due to a hamstring injury by which he’s currently sidelined, Ousmane Dembélé at least didn’t have to travel far to attend the Ballon d’Or ceremony.
Before 2024/2025, you’d have to go back to 2016/2017 for Ousmane Dembélé’s most prolific season.
Dembélé was entering what would ultimately be his only season as a Borussia Dortmund player, following his move to BVB from Stade Rennais for €35 million.
The Frenchman made 30 goal contributions that term and helped his team to the DFB-Pokal title.
In the summer of 2017, the then-20-year-old player moved to Camp Nou for a whopping €148m and seemingly lost his way, partially due to injuries, before receiving the lifeline of a move back to where it all started in Ligue 1 in 2023, this time in Paris instead of Rennes.
Ousmane Dembélé Pizza Chart 2023/2024 (Left) & 2024/2025 (Right)
Dembélé and Luis Enrique got to know each other in 2023/2024, when Dembélé made 21 goal contributions for PSG.
These numbers equalled his most productive campaign in Catalonia (2018/2019) but ultimately still failed to match the heights he’d reached as a teenager in Germany.
Then cam
