Ousmane Dembele wins Ligue 1 Player of the Year award in controversial fashion

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Martin Macdonald | Writer

Content writer covering football, formula 1 and movies

Paris Saint-Germain superstar Ousmane Dembele has won the Ligue 1 Player of the Year award for the second season running - despite making just nine starts in the competition this season.

The Ballon d'Or winner has had a campaign interrupted by injuries which has limited him to 20 appearances in Ligue 1 - nine starts and 11 as a substitute. When he has played, he has been excellent, with 10 goals and six assists to his name.

Overall, he has played 960 minutes in the competition.

He was up against team-mates Vitinha, Desire Doue and Nuno Mendes as well as Marseille's Mason Greenwood.

After winning the award this week, he actually acknowledged his lesser game time than the other nominees, but joked that perhaps his minutes count as double.

"Perceptions have changed because I'm the reigning Ballon d'Or winner," the Frenchman said, as quoted by Foot Mercato.

"And yes, I've had quite a few physical setbacks. I haven't had a lot of playing time, but every time I've been on the pitch, I've tried to be there for the team. That was the case against Marseille and against Lille, where I tried to help the team. I don't know if my time counts double, but I'm happy that the players voted for me."

"I wanted to thank my whole family, the staff, the president, the coach Luis Enrique. I'm lucky to have a coach like that; he's exceptional. And Vitinha too, because he asked me to pay him a little tribute. He's an exceptional teammate, I think he deserved this trophy, but with a goal."

Dembele was joking that Vitinha perhaps would have won the award had he found the back of the net more often but the Portuguese midfielder took it in good spirits, replying:

"He deserved it. He's the Ballon d'Or winner, he's the best player in our league. Get things done quickly, otherwise he [Dembele] will sweat too much. It could be a pain for him."

Remarkably, PSG don't have a player in the top 50 for most minutes played in Ligue 1 this season, with coach Enrique utilising his large squad to vital effect.

The resources the Parisians have, compared to other clubs, allow Enrique to rest players frequently, with other stars coming in without a significant drop in performance.

The player who has featured the most in the competition this campaign is Jordan Lefort of Angers, who has accumulated 2,970 minutes on the pitch.

The PSG player with the most minutes is Warren Zaire-Emery with 2,395.