Dembélé arrives at France camp under pressure after ghosting display against Marseille

Ousmane Dembélé arrives at Zinedine Zidane’s first gathering with the French national team in a form difficult to defend. Sunday evening at the Vélodrome, the 2025 Ballon d’Or delivered one of his worst performances of the season during the Classique won by PSG against Marseille (2-1), directly involved in the Marseille goal.

Consultant Walid Acherchour did not mince words after the match. “Dembélé tonight, it’s catastrophic. It’s not up to what he is. On the output, the choices and decisions… The ball loss on Gomes’ goal… We had the wrong Dembélé,” he declared. He also pointed out chronic inconsistency in the Paris winger: “The problem with Ousmane is that he has big technical gaps between his performances. It’s not possible at his level. On his first touches of the ball, we know what his match will be like.”

The timing is particularly delicate. Dembélé is expected Monday at Clairefontaine for the September international window, while Zidane would be considering lining him up as a striker, with Kylian Mbappé in his left wing. Such a dull performance, on the eve of the new manager’s first major appointment, does not work in his favor.

“If we have this Dembélé with France, it will be difficult to defend his role as number 9 under Zidane,” Acherchour warned. “I hope he is aware of what Zidane’s first gathering represents.”

The question now is whether the 28-year-old player will be able to raise his level from the first training sessions to convince a manager who has not yet finalized his definitive choices in attack.