Ousmane Dembele injury update: PSG coach Luis Enrique clarifies recovery timeline for Ballon d’Or winner

Since winning the 2025 Ballon d’Or, Ousmane Dembele has struggled to stay active at both club and international levels. Paris Saint-Germain have barely been able to enjoy the French winger’s talent due to physical issues, and now head coach Luis Enrique has addressed the situation.

“I don’t know when he will return. I’m not a doctor,” Luis Enrique said firmly when asked about Ousmane Dembele’s health during Friday’s press conference, shared by Diario AS.

However, the Spanish coach offered a slightly more positive outlook for the future. “He’s improving. I think today, possibly, he will do a small part of training. Nothing major. You have to stay attentive,” he said.

Finally, Luis Enrique even provided an estimate of the timeline for Dembele’s full recovery. “When I see that he feels good in training, in the coming weeks, it will be time to see him back,” explained the PSG coach.

When was Dembele’s last match?

After a 2024–25 season in which he was a key piece in Paris Saint-Germain’s success, Dembele has been far from having the same impact on the field. In fact, he has played just over 50% of his team’s matches this season: appearing in 9 games across all competitions and missing 8.

Those numbers are even worse with the French national team, as Dembele has missed the last five consecutive World Cup qualifiers due to muscle injuries. His only match with France in the second half of 2025 was during the September international break, when he played 36 minutes against Ukraine.

After returning injured from that match, Dembele needed a month to recover and get back minutes with Paris Saint-Germain. But after playing only four matches — one as a starter — the winger was forced off due to injury in the first half of the UEFA Champions League match against Bayern Munich on November 4. Since then, he has been out of action.

Other absences at PSG

While Ousmane Dembele is the most significant current injury affecting Paris Saint-Germain, there are other key players also unavailable due to physical problems. Desire Doue has been out in November with a hamstring injury, while Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes have also been sidelined since the match against Bayern Munich.

Amid this injury streak, Luis Enrique gave few certainties about how he will organize the team for Saturday’s Ligue 1 match against Le Havre. “I don’t know. Yesterday we trained with six players. Today, I don’t know either. We’ll have training this afternoon, and I still don’t know. I think all the players have returned normally,” the coach said regarding the recent FIFA break. “We have to wait for today’s session to know exactly who will play tomorrow.”