Ousmane Demble managed to make a name for himself and succeed as one of the best football players of today, standing out from other stars and currently holding the Ballon d’Or.
His talent was evident from his time at Stade Rennes, where he spent a season alongside Colombian Juan Fernando Quintero, who did not hesitate to praise him and even compare him to Lionel Messi.
Juan Far bows to Demble
The two met at Rennes in the 2015-16 season, with the Colombian taking his first steps abroad and the Frenchman just starting his career. Recalling his appearance at that time, Quintero revealed in an interview on his YouTube channel “JF10TV”:
“I arrived in Rennes on the last day of the transfer window and about two weeks later I was called to a meeting. A slender young man came in and greeted me. Pedro Enrique said, ‘Look out, this kid is a star…’ and I wondered who he was…,” the former River Plate player said (via SER). “I’ve never seen a player as talented as Demble. He was leaving everyone behind during training and I thought, ‘Who is this kid?'” He was flying. It was impressive,” he continued, expressing his admiration for his former teammate.
Seconds later, clearly intending to continue praising Demble, Juanfer compared Demble to the Argentine soccer star, considered by many to be the greatest soccer player of all time.
Of course I’ve seen Messi, but Ousmane… It was impossible for a 17-year-old to be so unique and hit the ball with both feet like that. When I got home, I thought, “I’ve never seen anything like this.” This kid is crazy.”
The truth is that Demble’s talent during his time at Rennes earned him moves to clubs such as Borussia Dortmund and then FC Barcelona, but interestingly, Demble shared a dressing room with Messi before establishing himself at Paris Saint-Germain. Leo also played for the Parisian club, but only between 2021 and 2023, while Dembre joined the team in August 2023, shortly after the Argentine left.
During his time with Bara, he won La Liga twice (2017-18, 2018-19), Copa del Rey once (2020-21) and Spanish Super Cup once (2018). However, they failed to win the coveted Champions League trophy in their four seasons together and have not won that trophy since the 2014-15 season.
However, this comparison with Messi came at a time when Osmane was experiencing one of his best moments on the field. As one of Paris Saint-Germain’s key players, he will aim to defend their Champions League title and win Ligue 1.
The French national team also faces a big challenge as they aim to win the World Cup for the second time in the last three tournaments, although they won the championship in 2018 and finished runners-up in 2022, losing on penalties to Argentina.
Ahead of the upcoming tournament, which will be held in the United States, Mexico and Canada from June 11 to July 19, France will be in Group I alongside Norway and Senegal and will be the third opponent to advance from the intercontinental play-off between Iraq and Bolivia (Tuesday, March 31). The opening game will be against Senegal on June 16th at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.
