Ousmane Dembele is the firm favourite to win the 2025 Ballon d'Or after making an unbelievable improvement to become one of the best players on the planet. From expensive Barcelona flop to Champions League winner with Paris Saint-Germain, the Frenchman has finally realised the vast potential he showed as a youngster.
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The 2000 winner of the award knows a thing or two about what it takes to win.
The electric winger spent four years alongside the man viewed by the majority as football's greatest ever player, Lionel Messi. During their time together at Barcelona, Messi was full of praise for Dembele, and even predicted the forward would go on to be one of the best in the world.
But what did Dembele make of the Argentine superstar? Well, he was just as complimentary of Messi after a recent FIFA Club World Cup match between Inter Miami and PSG. The 28-year-old reiterated a previous claim that his ex-colleague was the best to ever play the game.
"How nice to see you again, Messi, the best player of all time... I hope you continue to make history with Inter Miami as you did in the Club World Cup."
No mention of Diego Maradona or Pele
Messi isn't the only player Demebele has previously placed in the GOAT debate. Speaking in 2018, the former Barcelona man chose against naming either Argentine legend Diego Maradona or Brazilian icon Pele when selecting his greatest players ever.
Instead, he chose two Ballon d'Or winners in the form of Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldinho. The La Liga icons would have been at the very top of the sport when Dembele was a youngster, whereas Pele and Maradona were distant memories in terms of on-pitch brilliance. When naming the greatest players ever in his mind, the now 28-year-old said:
"Messi, Ronaldinho and Zinedine Zidane."
Like Messi, another of Demebele's GOATs has been mightily impressed with what they've seen from the France international. Ronaldinho was asked which players had caught his eye in the 2024-25 season, to which the flamboyant playmaker replied (per L'Equipe):
"There's Ousmane Dembele at PSG. I like him a lot. He has a slightly Brazilian style! He's disconcerting, he invents, he provokes. He's often unreadable and, what's more, he scores a lot of goals. He's revealing himself, bursting into a different role than he did at PSG last year or at Barcelona before that."
No Room For Cristiano Ronaldo on Dembele's List
Portuguese icon widely recognised as one of the finest players ever
Cristiano Ronaldo - alongside Maradona and Pele - is a notable absentee from Dembele's selections. The Manchester United and Real Madrid hero is often discussed in the same breath as Messi, with the pair seen as the best players in modern history.
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Despite CR7 picking Dembele as one of his 2025 Ballon d'Or favourites, he still doesn't quite make the cut on this occasion. He's the highest-scoring player in football history, but Dembele appears to favour the flair of Messi, Zidane and Ronaldinho.