Philippe Montanier, former Stade Rennais coach, spoke to TMW about the early days of Ousmane Dembélé (28), now Ballon d’Or winner and Paris Saint-Germain player. At the time, the French coach had spotted his extraordinary potential and did not hesitate to promote him early to the first team.
Montanier: “He deserves credit for how much he’s improved”
“He was 17 and had an enormous margin for progression. He was still playing at amateur level, putting up incredible numbers, and I brought him into the first team even though he was still very young. I could clearly see he had huge potential. Of course, I couldn’t have predicted he’d win the Ballon d’Or, but I realised I had a great talent on my hands. It’s no accident he was starting matches soon after. In any case, he deserves credit for learning, improving and developing to reach the very top of his career.”
For any coach, seeing one of your protégés go on to achieve the biggest things in football is deeply rewarding. Dembélé took his time, but everyone knew he had gold at his feet — the only question was whether that talent would truly explode at the elite level, with all the demands that entails.
As strong as he is now, Dembélé will still need to roll up his sleeves to keep his momentum going. He has everything to succeed at Paris over the next few years, but only he knows whether the sacrifices required to reach the top aren’t too costly. During this 2025/26 season he will be under close scrutiny — it’s up to him to confirm his status.
