Ousmane Dembele was announced as the winner of the Ballon d’Or on Monday evening. Meanwhile, old social media posts share a strange connection to Newcastle United.
It has been a long time since anyone from the Magpies has been up for the prestigious award, perhaps due to the decline in quality players during Mike Ashley’s reign as owner.
However, there is more confidence now than ever that Newcastle United could have a player included in the prestigious list of stars who are recognised as being the best in the world in their positions.
On Monday night, Ousmane Dembele beat young wonderkid Lamine Yamal to the Ballon d’Or, marking the first time he won the award after a sensational 2024/25 campaign, which saw him register a staggering 51 goal contributions in 53 appearances in all competitions.
Dembele was once on Newcastle’s transfer wishlist during the early days of the takeover, but a set of tweets from 2014 and 2015 suggest the Frenchman was well aware of the Magpies in his younger years.
Ousmane Dembele was a big fan of Ayoze Perez at Newcastle United
Dembele was deemed a flop after his eye-watering £135m move to Barcelona in 2017. However, the 28-year-old has completely turned his career around in Paris, and has deservedly won the Ballon d’Or after helping PSG win the Champions League last season.
While the winger was celebrating, old posts on social media emerged, with Dembele sharing his admiration for former Newcastle attacker Ayoze Perez.
The Spaniard joined Newcastle from Tenerife in 2014 and was immediately thrown into the deep end by Alan Pardew. Perez became a cult hero on Tyneside thanks to his 42 goals in 179 Premier League appearances, establishing himself as one of the top attackers for the club at the time.
On social media platform X, Dembele would regularly tweet Perez’s name with heart-eye emojis. At one point, the Frenchman even said, “Ayoze Perez, what a player.”
It is a bizarre crossover, but Dembele clearly had an eye for interesting tactics under Pardew and John Carver.
Newcastle United once made a ‘monster offer’ for Ousmane Dembele
When the takeover was announced in October 2021, there was a sense of excitement over who would join the club. Star-studded names like Lionel Messi and Neymar were on the lips of Newcastle fans, but there was little chance of those players joining the club.
However, it was not for the want of trying, as reports at the time suggested that Newcastle had tabled a ‘monster offer’ for Dembele in January 2022. It was a pre-contract deal, with the winger struggling at Barcelona.
Unfortunately, the move never came to fruition, and Newcastle opted instead to sign wingers like Anthony Gordon, which has proven to be a great decision.
Dembele will no doubt be one that got away from Newcastle, especially after his Ballon d’Or win, but there would surely have been question marks over whether he would have cut it in the Premier League.
The Frenchman was part of the PSG squad that were beaten 4-1 by Newcastle at St James’ Park in 2023. He had a great chance to open the scoring after just three minutes, but was a ghost for the majority of the clash.
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