Speaking to Football Presse and reflecting on Dembélé’s Ballon d’Or triumph, the former Manchester United and Arsenal defender explained why he boldly predicted the winger would one day become the best player in the world.
Now, with Dembélé preparing for Saturday’s Champions League Final with Paris Saint-Germain, Silvestre’s assessment looks all the more remarkable.
“No, I was happy for him,” Silvestre told Football Presse, on behalf of Esports Insider, when discussing Dembélé’s rise to football’s biggest individual prize. “I was happy for him because I think he had a fantastic season with PSG, with France. So it was nice to see him getting that personal reward because it’s quite unique.”
Silvestre’s belief in Dembélé dates back to his time working as Rennes sporting director, when the future France star was still only 18 years old. Even then, the former France international saw something rare.
“The attribute that I completely saw first of all was his capacity to win the 1v1 with so much ease,” Silvestre continued. “It was very fluid. The fluidity of his technique was quite superb, and you couldn’t predict what he was doing.”
For a player who spent his career facing elite attackers in both the Premier League and Europe, that unpredictability immediately stood out. Silvestre won major honours during spells with United and Arsenal, playing under Sir Alex Ferguson and alongside some of football’s greatest modern players.
“Most strikers, after three or four main dribbling attributes, that’s it,” Silvestre explained. “But for Ousmane, it was impossible to know which way he was going to go because he’s using his left foot as well as his right foot.”
Silvestre’s judgement carried added weight because he had already seen the rise of elite young talents at Old Trafford, including Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.
“I played with a young Wayne Rooney, a young Cristiano Ronaldo,” Silvestre recalled. “When Cristiano — when we played Cristiano in Sporting in that game, everybody talks about that game, and when the players ran after Sir Alex to make sure we would sign him.”
For Silvestre, Dembélé immediately triggered the same feeling.
“When I saw Ousmane had the same thing, I was like, 'wow, this boy is a special talent',” he said. “You don’t see that very often.”
What impressed Silvestre most was Dembélé’s maturity and intelligence at such a young age.
“He was making most of the time the right choices,” he said. “At 18 he was doing this against senior professional players. Ligue 1 is a tough league. So I was like, he’s got a hell of a career ahead of him.”
That career has now brought Dembélé to the biggest week of his club life. After finally fulfilling his immense potential in Paris and winning the Ballon d’Or earlier this season, the France international heads into Saturday’s Champions League final as PSG’s attacking leader and one of the defining players in world football.
For Silvestre, Dembélé’s rise is no surprise at all. The signs, he insists, were there from the very beginning at Rennes.