By Victor Kanayo
French international Ousmane Dembele have successfully joined Ligue 1 serial champions Paris Saint-Germain.
The deal, according to the club, is worth €50.4 million for five years.
The 26-year-old will wear jersey No. 23 in the French capital.
Responding, Dembele said, “I’m delighted to be joining Paris Saint-Germain and can’t wait to play for my new club.
“I hope I can continue to grow here and make all the club’s fans proud.
“I’m ready. I’m excited. I hope to join up with the squad very quickly and to be able to play. Physically too, I’m feeling good.
“I did the whole pre-season with Barcelona, then I trained this last week. I feel ready for the challenge. I’ve been looking forward to getting out on the pitch, training and getting to know all my team-mates for several weeks now.”
Before PSG Sojourn
Dembele, a world champion with France, joined Barcelona from Borussia Dortmund in a deal worth around €145 million plus add-ons in 2017.
He won seven titles with the Catalan club, including three La Liga titles and two Copa Del Rey trophies.
PSG President Nasser Al-Khelaifi expressed his profound happiness at bringing the Frenchman to the Paris-based club.
He said: “We are delighted to welcome Ousmane Dembélé to Paris Saint-Germain where he will be an important and committed player for our Club.
“The passion and determination shown by Ousmane as he has signed for PSG is fantastic and perfectly corresponds to the attitude required of all of our players. We are proud to be able to bring another French World Cup winner to Paris Saint-Germain as we enter a new great era for our club.”
Although his time with the Blaugrana was riddled with injuries, he departs Camp Nou with 40 goals and 43 assists in 185 matches, including eight goals and nine assists in 35 games in the 2022–23 campaign.
French Return, Career Path
Dembele returns to France, where he began his senior career with Rennes, where he scored 12 goals and provided another five in 29 matches, subsequently winning Ligue 1’s best prospect award at the end of his first season in the top flight, before securing a move to Dortmund in Germany, where he scored 10 goals and provided 22 assists in 50 matches.
He made his debut with the French national team in 2016 and has since represented them at two FIFA World Cup tournaments (2018, 2022) and the UEFA European Championships in 2020. He won the World Cup in 2018 and also got to the final in 2022 in Qatar.
