Ousmane Dembele's dreams of a fresh start at PSG are dying as Barcelona flop continues to struggle on the biggest stage

The France winger has endured a difficult start to life in Ligue 1 having failed to convince Luis Enrique in the early weeks of the season

Ousmane Dembele wasn't the only Paris Saint-Germain player to struggle as the Parisians traveled to take on Newcastle in the Champions League in early October. But he was the one who was offered the singular moment that could have changed the tie.

Midway through the first half, the France winger peeled away at the back post, creating a few yards between himself and Newcastle left-back Dan Burn. Kylian Mbappe delivered the perfect pass, a teasing, floating ball that fell into Dembele's path. And with one swing of his left boot, the winger put it half a yard outside of the post.

It was a passage of play that summarised Dembele's time in Paris so far — and perhaps his career at large. He is an immensely-talented footballer, who makes the right runs, dribbles around opponents with relative ease, and comprehends spaces and angles like few others can. But when the key moments come, Dembele doesn't deliver. Against Newcastle, he missed two big chances. Against Clermont Foot a few days earlier, he failed to convert despite getting four relativelyeasy opportunities in a 0-0 draw.

Factor in the missed passes, the misplaced crosses and the poor decisions, and Dembele begins to look like the perfect wide attacking player until he gets into the box. This much was perhaps already known after six relatively miserable seasons at Barcelona, but his move to PSG was supposed to change that.

Instead, the old Dembele is back, the player who promises much, but offers ultimately little. A new dawn has yielded the same old disappointing results so far.