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French forward Ousmane Dembele has today officially put the pen to the paper and signed with Borussia Dortmund. The 18-year-old joins from French club Rennes for a reported fee of around €15 million. He's also signed a new contract lasting until 2021.
Dembele, who Rennes official Mikael Silvestre has compared to a young Cristiano Ronaldo, has thus far had a very successful year in Ligue 1. He's tallied 12 goals in 20 appearances in the league as his team is seventh in the table.
Borussia Dortmund verpflichtet Toptalent Ousmane Dembélé - alle Infos dazu: https://t.co/heRJlX2CS8 pic.twitter.com/LtORXqywuO
— Borussia Dortmund (@BVB) May 12, 2016
This transfer gives Dortmund a versatile forward who can play on either the left or the right wing. Dembele also has international experience at the U21, U19, and U18 levels with France. He joined Rennes from FC Evreux when he was only 12 years old. He spent all of last season playing for Rennes' reserve team, only making his full debut for the senior team in November when he scored in a 2-2 draw with Bordeaux.
One of Ousmane's main weapons is his blistering pace. Watching him run at, and past, defenders is a sight to behold. Maybe one day we can see a race between Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Dembele in training just to see who the fastest player in Dortmund is.
Dembele is deservedly regarded as one of the brightest prospects, under the age of 20, in Europe. He'd been linked to various other major clubs including Bayern Munich and Manchester United. It won't get a ton of media attention, but this could quietly be one of the best signings of the summer. Dembele needs to add a bit of strength, but that shouldn't be a problem considering the facilities and staff that will be at his disposal with BVB.
The transfer took longer than expected to become official, and there were rumors Dembele was also considering Liverpool and Leicester City. But throughout the process he had dropped a few hints that he'd chosen Dortmund. On Twitter he followed BVB and was liking tweets welcoming him to the club. It's fair to say he's excited to get going, and we're excited to have him!
Welcome Ousmane!