Photo: Wikimedia Commons (free licence), cropped and styled by SportNestra — author and licence
Ousmane Dembélé’s management at PSG divided Christophe Dugarry and Eric Di Meco on Monday on Rothen s’enflamme, on RMC. At the heart of their disagreement was the careful handling of the 2025 Ballon d’Or winner, who was rested for Saturday’s 3-1 win over Le Mans. Since the start of the season, particular care has been taken with the forward’s workload.
That caution comes after Dembélé failed to reassure with Les Bleus during the latest international gathering. He wore the captain’s armband against Italy and Belgium in the two most recent matches, but is due to return to Champions League action with PSG on Wednesday, away to Manchester City at 21:00.
The earlier meeting with Lille, on Ligue 1’s second matchday, ended 2-2. On Saturday against Le Mans, Dembélé was not merely left out of the starting side: he was not even among the PSG substitutes.
Di Meco believes the PSG coach should continue to receive the club’s trust. He pointed to the confidence the coach had managed to instil in Dembélé late last season. Their debate therefore brought into focus the balance between carefully managing the forward and backing the coach’s approach ahead of the European fixture.
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