Three favourites to win the 2017 Golden Boy award
Ousmane Dembélé
Another young French talent who has the potential to be a world-beater. Just over a year ago he got his big break by joining Borussia Dortmund. His career has continued to progress at a remarkable rate, which has led to him leaving Dortmund, after just one season there, so he could join FC Barcelona. The fact that he was bought as Neymar’s replacement at one of Europe’s super clubs shows how highly he is regarded.
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He possesses a rare talent in that he is truly two-footed. His dribbling at speed is reminiscent of Lionel Messi in that he effortlessly breezes past people with quick body movement. He also possesses the vision to unlock defences with killer slide rule passes. This is backed by his numbers because he assisted 12 goals in the Bundesliga. Even more impressively he managed to average an assist every 128 minutes in the Champions League.
The Westphalians did manage to win a major trophy as well because they beat Eintracht Frankfurt in the DFB-Pokal Final. Dembélé starred in this campaign because he scored the winner against Bayern Munich in the semi-finals as well as scoring in the final.
Unfortunately, he picked up an injury against Getafe which rules him out for three to four months. Prior to this, he had struggled in his first few Barcelona games with nerves seeming to be the main reason. Although, he still managed to get an assist against Espanyol. This injury will delay his progress at a key time because he has to get acquainted with the team’s style again.
This gives the advantage to Mbappé because he can continue to build on his impressive first season.