Mbappe, Dembele in Paris spotlight

The 24-year-old has yet to be crowned the best player in the world, though, because PSG lost the Champions League and France didn'tdidn't win the World Cup despite Mbappe'sMbappe's hat-trick in the team's final loss to Messi'sMessi's Argentina.
Instead, the world champion Messi won a record-breaking ninth Ballon d'Ord'Or, while Haaland finished second after helping Manchester City win the English and European trebles. The striker finished third in the poll, much to the anger of fans with PSG tickets.
Coach Luis Enrique of PSG is optimistic that his star attacker will eventually win the trophy, but he also outlined the requirements for him to do it.
"To win the Ballon d'Ord'Or, in addition to individual performances which are very good for Kylian, you have to win club and national trophies," he told reporters. "We want to win as much as possible in Paris, and Kylian can do the same with the national squad. He will undoubtedly win numerous Ballon d'Ord'Or."
The France winger struggled to win Luis Enrique over in the opening stages of the season, and he has had a rough start to life in Ligue 1, putting him in the bad books of fans with PSG tickets.
When Paris Saint-Germain headed to Newcastle in the Champions League in early October, Ousmane Dembele wasn't the only player who struggled. However, he was presented with the only opportunity to break the tie.
The France winger sliced away at the back post halfway through the first half, putting some distance between himself and Newcastle left-back Dan Burn. Dembele received the ideal pass from Kylian Mbappe, a playful, floating ball that landed in his path. And the winger moved it half a yard outside with a single swipe of his left boot.
It was a scene from a play that summed up Dembele's stay in Paris thus far and possibly his entire career. He is an incredibly skilled football player who can run the right plays, dribble around opponents with ease, and understand angles and spaces better than most. But Dembele falls short at the crucial times. In two opportunities against Newcastle, he failed. A few days prior, in a draw with Clermont, he had plenty of simple openings but could not convert.
When you take into account the mishandled passes, misdirected crosses, and bad choices, Dembele starts to appear like the ideal wide player—that is until he enters the box. After six somewhat terrible seasons at Barcelona, this much was probably previously known, but his move to PSG was meant to change that.
Instead, Dembele has returned to his former self as a player who makes big promises but delivers little. Thus, a fresh morning has produced the same old depressing outcomes. French fans with PSG tickets are furious.
It made some sense for PSG to activate Dembele's €50 million (£43 million/$55 million) release clause in August, despite his ups and downs at Barcelona. The 26-year-old, who had been on the ropes for almost two years before, had made an incredible recovery under Xavi.
He was, in reality, among the greatest in La Liga for eighteen months. Dembele assisted on 22 goals and scored ten in his final two seasons with Barcelona. His rapport with Barca's attacker Robert Lewandowski, however, was vital as the Blaugrana fought their way to their first Liga championship in three years.
For the first time since his breakthrough year at Borussia Dortmund">Borussia Dortmund in 2016, Dembele was acting appropriately. At the very least, he was making fewer mistakes. He scored goals in matches with Athletic Club and Atletico Madrid. He provided excellent assists in the games against Viktoria Plzen and Real Valladolid. This player was living up to his expectations.
Moreover, Barcelona was noticeably worse without him. The winger has always suffered with injuries, which resurfaced in January when he developed a hamstring problem. After Dembele missed over four months, Barca looked to Raphinha to fill the void.
Even though the Brazilian didn't precisely perform poorly, Barca lost eight games and the Copa del Rey as a result of Dembele's injury. Lewandowski, who was earlier on pace for 30 league goals, ended the season with just 23 goals as they scored fewer goals and gave up more.
Dembele wasn't the only player missing time due to injury; Pedri and Frenkie de Jong were also out. Neither was he the only factor in the team's performance before his injury. However, while he was playing, Barca was a better team.
So, it was unexpected when he decided to join PSG. Xavi said that the Blaugrana would have preferred to hang onto the French winger, but Dembele quickly accepted the transfer after PSG fulfilled his release clause.
Even with his recent improvement, Dembele most likely required a shift in environment. Theoretically, it was the ideal return home for a celebrity who still needed a chance to prove why he was regarded as a gifted athlete in his early years.
For a while now, it has been believed that Dembele is an elite player who needs the ideal environment to develop into one of the greatest wingers in the game. The enticing raw qualities—speed, dribbling prowess, and a propensity to strike the ball with both feet—needed to be developed and put to use.
As a teenager, he demonstrated enough promise at Dortmund and Rennes to imply they could. Dembele was the highlight of the 2016–17 campaign in Germany. The winger allegedly wrecked the apartment he was renting from Jurgen Klopp, raising concerns about his off-field antics, but he was a massive asset to Thomas Tuchel's team.
Tuchel gave the youth regular playing time right away and complimented the player's performance. By the spring, he had become a significant player, winning the league's Rookie of the Season award, making the Bundesliga Team of the Season, and scoring the game's first goal in the DFB-Pokal final.
That persuaded Barca, who were searching for a Neymar replacement, to spend an initial €105 million (£90 million/$116 million) to buy him that summer. And despite having a mediocre experience in Catalunya, Dembele's performances over the past 18 months have given hope that he will eventually fulfill his promise when he was just 19 years old.
Even more enticing was that he was raised a little over an hour's drive from Paris in the story. This was meant to be the ideal place for a fresh start.
However, thus far, things have yet to go according to plan. Fundamentally, Dembele is missing a lot of shots. This season, the winger has yet to score for either club or nation. He has only provided two assists, both of which came in Ligue 1 somewhat easy victories.
His xG total is slightly over two, with only six of his 23 shots on goal (albeit a disallowed plan has somewhat distorted the stats). This striker is not misfiring within the box or missing opportunities with the goal gaping; instead, he is simply experiencing a slump when he enters the penalty area.
With PSG's array of footballing stardom gaining traction, PSG tickets are running out fast as they remain France football's biggest attraction.