Vinicius Jr Or Ousmane Dembele? Who is the better player?
The players who play on the wing positions are usually the fan favourite and the heart of the team. These players are the ones who can win a match by their skills and talents. Two such young players who play for rival clubs are often in the news for their miracles.
Vinicius Jr who started his journey in Real Madrid is now the second most important player in attack after Karim Benzema. The second position is the place which was held by Benzema for a long time during the time of Cristiano Ronaldo. The fans today see Vinicus Jr as the perfect replacement for Ronaldo as he has started to show the same level of enthusiasm and hunger for scoring goals that Cristiano had in him.
Just like their rivals, FC Barcelona was also looking for a replacement for Neymar Jr who moved to PSG. The club found his replacement in the Dortmund winger Ousmane Dembele who was highly talented and promising. It was an expensive signing for Barcelona had to spend $118m on his signing which is one of the reasons why the club went bankrupt later. The player did impress the fans of Barcelona but unfortunately spend more of his time in the hospital than on the pitch itself. There has been no season since he arrived in Spain where he did not get injured.
In the current season of La Liga 2022/23, Dembele is showing great will and skill to help his team reach the heights that he was destined for. Injuries might bring Dembele down but he never stayed on the ground and has always tried to bounce back in the best way possible.
Vinicius Jr Vs Ousmane Dembele:
1: Player Stats
The players who play on the wing positions do not get to eat the cherry from the cake always and sometimes it affects their stats. Real Madrid was unstoppable in the last season as they won both the La Liga and the Champions League in the same season. It would not have been possible without the help of the Brazilian wunderkind Vinicius Jr. While Dembele could not do much to help his team in the last few seasons he is looking pretty sharp for the current 2022/23 season.
Comparing based on 2021/22 stats:
| Vini Jr | Dembele | |
| Matches | 35 | 21 |
| Minutes | 2837 | 1524 |
| Goals | 17 | 1 |
| Shots | 80 | 46 |
| Assists | 10 | 13 |
| Pass | 1255 | 674 |
| Pass Success % | 86% | 85% |
| Offsides | 28 | 4 |
It’s clear that Vinicius is much ahead of Dembele and has been a star the last season. The stats of these two young individuals can change in the future as they both are quite young and have a lot to achieve in future.
2: Titles Won
Vinicius enjoyed great glory in the previous season with Real Madrid as he helped them win the La Liga, the Champions League and the UEFA Super Cup. These are titles in which there is his major contribution and he needs to get the credit he deserves.
On the other hand, Dembele also has a few titles he won during his time at Barcelona. One thing that we should note here is that for everything that Dembele has won in La Liga Vinicius has won more despite being 3 years younger than him.
It is easy to say that Vinicius Jr is the clear winner.
| Vini Jr | Dembele | |
| Champions League | 1 | 0 |
| La Liga | 2 | 2 |
| Spanish Cup | 2 | 2 |
| FIFA CWC | 1 | 0 |
| Others | 1 | 2 |
3: International Career
The France winger Dembele has a lot to catch up with his country. In all his career since 2016, he has only scored 4 goals and 1 assist while none of them came during a World Cup or the Euro. The selection of Dembele for the upcoming World Cup is also a question. The recent performances may help him get a place in the team as France can make good use of Dembele to defend the World Cup title that they hold.
The young Brazilian national has achieved more for his country, especially in the youth team (U-20, U-17 and U-15). The player won the South American Championship twice with the youth squad and was the highest scorer for them in 2017. Vini is expected to make more appearances for them as he is starting to form good chemistry with his Brazilian teammates. The Brazil national team is looking very sharp with several young talents ready to play for their country.
The upcoming World Cup 2022 Qatar will be a big competition for Brazil to prove their dominance once again to the world.
4: Personal Life
Recently in 2021, Dembele got married and after that, his career is just getting better day by day. He is a practising Muslim and lives a very private life away from the chaos.
Vinicius is comparatively younger and is on the path to making himself better. Vini Jr loves to watch Basketball and travel. When he is not doing either of the two he is working on himself to be among the best since he has huge responsibilities on his shoulders to steer Real Madrid to more glories.
5: Individual Honours
According to the pundits of football one of the best way is to compare their individual titles. If a player is actually good then he is always rewarded for his performance.
Honours of Vinicius Jr
- Copa São Paulo de Futebol Júnior Best Left-Winger: 2017
- South American U-17 Championship Best Player: 2017
- UEFA Champions League Team Of The Season: 2021-22
- UEFA Champions League Young Player of the Season: 2021-22
- La Liga Team Of the Season: 2021-22
Honours of Ousmane Dembele:
- UNFP Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year: 2015–16
- UEFA Champions League Breakthrough XI: 2016
- Bundesliga Rookie of the Season: 2016–17
- Bundesliga Team of the Season: 2016–17
- VDV Newcomer of the Season: 2016–17
- La liga top assist provider: 2021–22
The two players have similar responsibilities in their clubs while one has somewhat achieved his part of the work the other is still struggling to create a huge impact. The overall transfer of Dembele has been much more expensive for Barcelona compared to the signing of Vinicius for Real Madrid. The Madrid winger Vinicius has achieved a lot more in much less amount of time considering he is 3 years younger than Dembele too.
Only the best of the young generation of football players can really compare with Vinicius Jr.
