If there is one thing football can teach us, it is that timing and confidence can be everything. It is why some players can look like world-beaters for one club, and then completely flop at another.
Take, for example, Liverpool star Mohamed Salah. He is undoubtedly one of the most talented footballers to ever pull on the red jersey at Anfield. And yet, at rival Premier League outfit Chelsea, he was a complete disaster, scoring just two goals for the Blues.
While Jurgen Klopp helped turn around Salah's struggling career, there is another talented winger who declined the chance to join the Reds, but his career is now thriving.
Ousmane Dembele Turned Down Jurgen Klopp
Chose Borussia Dortmund over Liverpool
In May 2016, Ousmane Dembele signed a five-year contract with German club Borussia Dortmund. Previously playing for French side Rennes, he had caught the eye of many big clubs across Europe – no doubt helped with club director Mikael Silvestre comparing the then-teenager to Cristiano Ronaldo.
In France, he bagged 17 goal contributions – 12 goals and five assists – before securing a move to Germany. However, former Dortmund boss Klopp had personally tried to hijack the move and bring Dembele to Merseyside, only to be rejected:
“I saw Klopp in Paris but I told him I'd made up my mind to sign for BVB.”
The Frenchman would enjoy a pretty successful move, scoring 10 goals and picking up a whopping 21 assists in 50 games for Dortmund. He was so impressive, in fact, that ex-boss Thomas Tuchel said that Dembele was the most talented player he ever coached (along with Neymar).
He said: "He was a pretty natural talent, very very outstanding. Dembele was one of the craziest natural talents because he was shooting free-kicks with his left [foot], shooting corners with his left [foot]."
Such was his talent, that when Neymar shocked the world and swapped Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain in a record £190m transfer fee, the Spanish outfit looked to Dembele to help fill the void. They spent £115m on the Frenchman in 2017 but it appeared as though that fee was too much for him to live up to.
Over the next 6 seasons, the winger would provide 40 goals and 41 assists in 185 games for Barca. That is a respectable return but his numbers were not quite befitting those expected of a club-record signing – albeit Philippe Coutinho would arrive for a bigger fee just one year later.
More than anything, however, Dembele struggled to win over fans with his inconsistency. His talent was clear for all to see, which made it all the more frustrating when he lacked the ability to regularly deliver good performances – a poor fitness record also didn't help.
His most infamous moment, perhaps, actually came against Liverpool. With the home team losing 3-0 in the first leg of the Champions League semi-final, the Frenchman could have put the tie to bed in the first leg but missed an absolute sitter. As we all know, Liverpool would win the return game 4-0 at Anfield – in one of the all-time great European football comebacks – making the competition final at the expense of Dembele and co.
Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool with Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid, and Ousmane Dembélé (PSG) - with Liverpool theme Related
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Demebele's Resurgence at PSG
One of Europe's best players in 2024/25
Ousmane Dembele stats this season at PSG
Demebele's time in Spain ended in 2023 when he joined Paris Saint-Germain and ironically later inherited Neymar's no.10 shirt. His first season back in Ligue 1 was mixed as he scored just six goals in all competitions but characteistlally showed occasional glimpses of his qualiity.
In 2024/25, however, he has exploded, evolving into a goalscoring machine with 29 goals to his name in all competitions. Across Europe's top five leagues, of all wingers he is now having the second highest number shots per game (3.83), while also requiring the second-fewest minutes (68.5) per game to register a goal or an assist.
Perhaps most impressively, when looking at WhoScored metrics, he is statistically the highest-rated player in his position across Europe's top five leagues. Indeed, be it as a striker or a left-winger, his average 7.8 match-rating is unbeaten – with Kylian Mbappe (7.7) and Raphinha (7.7) the next closer.
Whoscored Statistical Best XI
Whoscored Statistical Best XI
With stats like that, and having played a key role in knocking Liverpool out of the Champions League, scoring the equaliser at Anfield and scoring his penalty, it's no wonder the Frenchman has now shot up the 2025 Ballon d'Or power rankings and is a surprise contender to claim football's biggest individual award.
SofaScore, WhoScored and Transfermarkt - correct as of 18/03/24