{"id":39095,"date":"2026-06-12T11:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T11:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/39095\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T11:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T11:02:08","slug":"ousmane-dembele-explains-why-he-left-barcelona-for-psg-even-though-i-was-very-attached-it-felt-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/39095\/","title":{"rendered":"Ousmane Dembele explains why he left Barcelona for PSG: &#8216;Even though I was very attached, it felt like&#8230;&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ousmane Dembele has reflected on one of the biggest decisions of his career, admitting that leaving Barcelona for Paris Saint-Germain was the right move despite his deep connection to the Catalan club.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The French winger, who has enjoyed remarkable success since arriving in Paris, spoke candidly about his departure from Barcelona in an interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marca.com\/futbol\/mundial\/2026\/06\/12\/dembele-ganar-mundial-cima-absoluta.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">MARCA<\/a> and the factors that convinced him to start a new chapter in France.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/barcauniversal.com\/ousmane-dembele-reflects-on-his-time-and-injury-ordeals-at-barcelona-it-was-complicated\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">After a turbulent spell at Camp Nou<\/a> that included injuries, contract disputes and periods of inconsistency, Dembele completed a \u20ac50.4 million transfer to PSG in 2023.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three years later, the move appears to have paid off handsomely for both player and club.<\/p>\n<p>Why Dembele chose to leave Barcelona<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although Dembele\u2019s relationship with Barcelona was often complicated, his affection for the club never disappeared.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The former winger revealed that making the decision to leave was not easy, particularly because of his personal attachment to Barcelona. However, he felt the timing was right to pursue a fresh challenge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn my case, I felt it was time to leave the club, even though I was very attached to Bar\u00e7a, whom I\u2019ve supported since I was a child. But for me, it was important to sign for Paris Saint-Germain.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"645\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/paris-saint-germain-v-arsenal-fc-uefa-champions-league-final-2026-2-1024x645.jpg\" alt=\"Ousmane Dembele, PSG player\" class=\"wp-image-202232\"  \/>Dembele left Barcelona in 2023. (Photo by Lars Baron\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI spoke to Luis Enrique, who\u2019d wanted me for a long time and whom I know well. And, of course, with the president and the sporting director.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAnd it was a brilliant decision when you look at what\u2019s happened at Paris Saint-Germain over the last three years, and I\u2019m happy about that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Luis Enrique played a decisive role<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One of the key factors behind Dembele\u2019s decision was the influence of Luis Enrique.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The PSG manager made his intentions clear from the very beginning and outlined a detailed plan for how the French international would fit into his system.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cYes, I remember it very well. I was on tour in Los Angeles with Barcelona when Luis Enrique rang me.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe explained his plans, his vision of my role in his team and how he saw our future together at Paris Saint-Germain. His words convinced me straight away.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">That trust has clearly been repaid.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since arriving in Paris, Dembele has helped PSG establish themselves as one of Europe\u2019s dominant forces, winning consecutive Champions League titles and eventually claiming the Ballon d\u2019Or.<\/p>\n<p>Barcelona may look back with mixed feelings<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2026-french-open-day-nine-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Ousmane Dembele, PSG player\" class=\"wp-image-202231\"  \/>Dembele has explained why he moved to PSG. (Photo by Matthew Stockman\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Dembele\u2019s story remains one of the most debated chapters in Barcelona\u2019s recent history.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is little doubt that injuries prevented supporters from consistently seeing the best version of the Frenchman during much of his time in Spain.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However, his final seasons at the club hinted at the player he would eventually become. The winger believes that improvement had already started before his departure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s a bit of all of that at once. That said, I was already feeling much better during my final years at Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn 2021\u20132022 I was 24 or 25 and things had improved significantly. My early days in Spain had been very difficult due to injuries, but in Paris I\u2019ve continued the form I showed in those last two seasons at Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ve gained experience and learnt to understand my body much better, which has helped me enormously.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhat\u2019s more, I\u2019m lucky to have Luis Enrique and his coaching staff, who manage me perfectly,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ousmane Dembele has reflected on one of the biggest decisions of his career, admitting that leaving Barcelona for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[92,222,223,3103],"class_list":["post-39095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-barcelona","tag-barcelona","tag-barcelona-news","tag-fc-barcelona","tag-ousmane-dembele"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}