Tottenham Hotspur fans will welcome back a real fan favourite to the club against Burnley as Mousa Dembele returns as a half-time guest.
Tottenham fans need any boost imaginable right now.
Four defeats in a row have served as a dagger to the heart of Tottenham’s Champions League hopes.
Tottenham are back at home on Saturday, hosting relegation-threatened Burnley in a must-win game for Ange Postecoglou.
Spurs fans will be looking to roar their side on to victory and even just having Mousa Dembele in the building may be a source of inspiration.
The former Tottenham midfielder is returning to the club as a half-time guest against Burnley, more than five years since leaving the club.
Dembele played 250 times for Tottenham before leaving for Guangzhou City in China back in 2019.
The absolute definition of a cult hero, Dembele is a true Tottenham favourite and the 36-year-old has been praised enormously for his time at Spurs.
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Mousa Dembele praise: the best quotes on Tottenham cult hero
Snapped up from Fulham in 2012, Dembele had frankly incredible ability.
So strong but so technical, just as capable of bulldozing past opponents as he was of dancing past them.
Dembele only ever scored 10 goals for Tottenham, which is a staggeringly low total for a player of his class, but here are some of the best quotes about his ability…
“I feel like selling Mousa Dembele, for me, and you can ask anybody who’s played with him, he’s the best player I’ve ever played with, you just can’t replace him. We sold him in January. I personally feel like if we kept him for that extra five months and let him go on a free in the summer. We would have done a lot, lot better. Especially, I think would have won the final,” – Kieran Trippier, 2020.
“He is a scandal, he is a scandal – a scandal! The only thing Dembele didn’t have was assists and goals. Everything apart from assists and goals, he was stupid at, it shouldn’t have been allowed,” – Kyle Walker, 2024.
“Every time he had the ball, I used to say ‘he’s sitting in a chair like it’s an armchair. No one is getting the ball off him’. They still haven’t replaced him now at Tottenham,” – Tim Sherwood, 2023.
“Mousa he is incredible. I haven’t seen a player like this. I have never seen this,” – Son Heung-min, 2021.
“The best player I played against? I played against Messi, which is obviously, for me, the greatest player of all time. But I only played against him twice. But the one I played against consistently that I used to hate playing against was Dembele from Tottenham. What a player! He was strong, quick, skilful and he had that nasty side to him. A few games where I have a little bit with him and he’s just left a little on me. But he’s not even cared. And he was so strong. He would almost show you the ball. Then he would (go past you) ‘no, see you later’,” – Jack Wilshere, 2021.
“I know a lot of people say it, but probably Mousa Dembele. I think in terms of just like technical, strength, power, he just had everything really as a player, he was an incredible player,” – Harry Kane, 2021, when asked to name the most technically-gifted player he was played with in his career.
“In my opinion Dembele – I think he’s very good. His feet are unbelievable. He’s so big and he shifts his body so easily,” – Dele, 2016.
“For me, in a 5-a-side, he’s the best player in the world. So strong on the ball, you can never take it off him. Offensively and defensively [he’s] one of the best,” – Kevin De Bruyne, 2016.
That so many players – both who played with Dembele and played against him – had these kind of words for him speaks volumes.
Dembele was an exceptional player and yet still seems underrated and underappreciated outside of Tottenham circles.
Tottenham fans will absolutely give him a huge reception in North London and may be wishing that a player like Dembele was at Postecoglou’s disposal right now.
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