PSG’s Ousmane Dembélé reveals curious obsession with dictator documentaries

During his speech on the podcast The Bridge, Ousmane Dembélé delved into many different topics. The former Barcelona winger called out his retirement plan, his Football Manager save and a strange and inexplicable obsession with documentaries about dictators.

The France international, now 27, spoke about his retirement and outlined a plan to leave professional football in seven years, aged 34. Once he hangs up his boots, he seemingly has no interest in staying in the game, instead raking in the possibility of getting into the real estate business, both in France and Africa.

Dembélé is also known to be a big fan of the Football Manager franchise, telling The Bridge podcast that he spends “all day” on the game. “I came from the bottom boys – Winchester,” said the France international, referring to one of his saves in the match.

A more surprising admission, however, came when he talked about what he liked to watch. “I really like documentaries, both on Arte (a French channel) and on YouTube. I watch documentaries about the past, about what happened during the Second World War,” Dembélé began. Aurélien Tchouaméni and Jules Koundé, the latter laughing, apparently knew where this particular anecdote was going.

“I like to see what the dictators did: Mobutu [Sese Seko]the German man (Adolf Hitler, actually Austrian)… [Joseph] Stalin, I love all that (the documentaries),” he said. Piqued by his interest, he said he had “always” had it. “I don't know why,” Dembélé added.