Arsenal won’t sign Ousmane Dembele from Barcelona because they splashed out on Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in January, says Martin Keown.
Keown believes Gunners fans are keen for another big-money signing ahead of Thursday’s deadline, he doesn’t think it’s realistic that Unai Emery will break the bank for Dembele.
“I don’t know, maybe it’s good for the fans,” he exclusively told Starsport. “I don’t see it happening. It seems like it’s an absolute fortune for the player. It doesn’t look likely.
“But maybe the Arsenal fans are hoping for that sort of marquee signing. I think that work was done last year with Aubameyang.
“Aubameyang is going to be a player that I think could really tear up the Premier League this season so we’ll have to wait and see how that happens.”
meanwhile, French starlet Ousmane Dembele’s reputation has taken a beating since he burst on to the scene as an 18-year-old for Rennes.
The now 21-year-old was labelled ‘Enfant terrible’ (a problem child) after forcing a move to Barcelona by refusing to train with former club Borussia Dortmund.
While France manager Didier Deschamps recently criticised his attitude, questioning the prodigy’s desire before a crucial World Cup game against Uruguay.
But a new documentary called ‘Ousmane’ sets out to change that perception and help us understand where the wonderkid is coming from.
Part of a mini-series by acclaimed French director Jesse Adang called ‘Ballon sur Bitume’ which translates as concrete football, the film offers a revealing portrait into the man who has been linked with both Arsenal and Liverpool.
His dedication and desire to escape from his impoverished surroundings in the rough ghettos of La Madeleine, a poor suburb of Évreux, has made him the man he is today.
A talent that encouraged the Catalan giants to fork out a mammoth £135.5m for his services.
“We would play football on the streets or on urban pitches from 1pm to 8pm,” he reveals in the telling docu available to watch for free on YouTube.
“I was always with a ball, you know how it goes.”
His best friend, Youness Oubrayeme recalls seeing his pal’s talents up close when they played in their very own concrete jungle.
“Ousmane was one of the local kids you would see in the streets,” he says.
“He might’ve been ten years younger than the other kids, but he’d still do an inside hook past them, nutmeg them and score after that.
“That’s where he became a star on the pitch. People started talking about him.”
When he was just six-years-old, he began training with local team ALM Évreux. It was where his first coach Ahmed Whabi discovered his protege’s unique skills, as well as his hunger to achieve his dream.
“I used to coach a little bit at the city football club,” Whabi says.
“One evening, before leaving the facilities, I saw Dembouz playing on the side.
“I could see from the way he touched the ball, his technique was exceptional for his age.
“He watched football on TV and he ask me before joining the team, ‘Can we all play with the same jerseys? Same football kit, have a referee in our games?
“So I answered ‘Sure, you’ll have a jersey and the team will have the same football kit even a ref and people around the pitch to cheer you on.’
“Then he laughed and said, ‘Ok, I’m joining your team.’
“He would score in every game he played and dribble past three or four guys. He just had to.”
A team from the city of Vernon got a glimpse of Ousmane’s outrageous talents, according to former teammate Mohamed Imarighan.
“He was a substitute. But when he came on the pitch, he dribbled past five guys, past the keeper and knocked the ball in with his head.
“I will never forget it. Ask the team from Vernon. I think they still have nightmares about it. Especially the goalkeeper!
“I used to say I wanted to be like Cristiano Ronaldo. Ousmane would answer that he’d rather be like Lionel Messi. He made that promise to us all.
“He said something like, ‘You’ll see, I’m going to try something. I’m going to be a great football player.
“Step-by-step, he did his thing and today he’s Messi’s colleague.”
After enjoying a breathtaking debut season in Ligue 1, where he scored 12 goals in 29 games for Rennes, Dembele moved to Germany in 2016.
As ‘Ousmane’ tells us, he was welcomed by Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who took his young team-mate under his wing at Dortmund.
“He made me want to help him out and take him under my wing because I know how tough it can be,” Aubameyang reveals.
“When you don’t speak German or English or Spanish, let’s keep it real, it’s tough.
“I thought I had to take on the big brother role or whatever you want to call it.
“I took it seriously because I knew from the beginning I wanted to help him so that he would be in the best conditions.
“But more than anything, I wanted him to succeed.”
Back in the playgrounds of La Madeleine, surrounded by looming council estates, the kids of today dream of being the next Ousmane.
In fact, on the pitches where he developed his nous for the game they copy his signature move.
“We call it the Dembouz move,” one boy says.
“It’s an inside hook. It’s when you fake to shoot and at the last minute you do an inside hook. That’s how we call it in the hood.”
Dembele reacts in shock when he’s told this in the short film. “For real? I didn’t know that. Nobody told me this. I don’t know if they take me as a role model, but it feels nice that kids in the hood look up to me.”
His inner circle and agent Moussa Sissoko keep Ousmane grounded. Sissoko explains that his clients’ upbringing is key to the man he is today.
“A kid that grows up in those areas, in a particular environment, doesn’t have the same problem than a kid who grew up in a wealthy household.
“People have to know and understand it because this is a real matter of interest to the society.”
‘Ousmane’ creator Adang, 30, tells SunSport why he chose the boy wonder for his latest project.
“His story touched me, I heard a lot about him and I felt that I had to do a film on his life.
“It’s difficult to grow when you’re from an area that is very poor, and his only goal was to be a footballer since he was young. He tried everything, played every day and went on a lot of trials.
“He couldn’t achieve all these things without the spirit you earn when you’re from the ghetto because there you have to fight for everything.
“When they say Ousmane is a difficult guy because he doesn’t want to train, I think you have to understand where he comes from to explain why his behaviour is like that.
“A lot of people criticise the guy because he acts differently. But you have to understand his background to understand his reactions.
Adang, who comes from a rough Paris suburb in the 95 district and grew up with Riyad Mahrez as a neighbour, managed to gain Dembele’s trust because of his own tough living conditions.