Ousmane Dembélé has managed to build a name for himself and achieve success as one of the best football players in the world today, standing out among many other stars and currently holding the Ballon d’Or.
His talent was evident from his time at Stade Rennais FC, where he spent a season alongside Colombian midfielder Juan Fernando Quintero, who did not hesitate to praise him and even compare him to Lionel Messi.
During the 2015–16 season at Rennes, the two met for the first time. Recalling that period, Quintero said:
“I arrived at Rennes on the last day of the transfer window, and about two weeks later we were called into a meeting. A skinny young guy walked in and greeted me. Pedro Henrique told me: ‘Be careful, this guy is a star…’ and I wondered who he was…”
He continued by praising his former teammate:
“I have never seen anyone as talented as Dembélé. In training, he would leave everyone behind, and I kept thinking: ‘Who is this guy?’ He was flying. It was incredible.”
Then, comparing him to Messi, Quintero added:
“I’ve seen Messi, of course, but Ousmane… at 17 years old, striking the ball like that with both feet and with such personality—it was unbelievable. I would go home thinking: ‘I’ve never seen anything like this, this guy is crazy.’”
The talent he showed at Rennes earned him a move to Borussia Dortmund and later to FC Barcelona, where he shared the dressing room with Messi before eventually settling at Paris Saint-Germain.
