After a year and a half, in which he played 32 games and scored six goals, Dembélé left Pierikos to sign with Bulgarian club Lokomotiv Plovdiv in January 2010.

The play-off against AIK Fotboll saw Dembélé scoring another decisive goal for his new club, ensuring Levski's qualification to the Group stages of the Europa League.

In the last match of Group C, already eliminated Levski won against Sporting CP 1–0 - the winning goal was scored by Daniel Mladenov, who was assisted by Dembélé.

He scored his third hat-trick in the A PFG against Pirin Blagoevgrad in Levski's 4–1 win at Georgi Asparuhov, helping his team come back from being 1–0 down.

In February 2011, during the preparation for the second part of the season, it was announced that Dembélé would wear the number nine jersey, following his decision to stay during the 2010–11 winter transfer window.

[6] Dembélé expressed his satisfaction with the way he was received by Levski supporters, but was less magnanimous in his assessments regarding the quality of the training sessions during his time in Bulgaria.

[8] On 28 June 2011, Dembélé made his unofficial debut for the team and netted a goal in the 4–1 win over TSG Balingen in a friendly match.

[9] On 6 August 2011, he made his first official appearance, coming on as a late substitute in the 2–2 away draw with FC Augsburg in a Bundesliga match.

[12] In February 2013, after finding it difficult to secure a starting spot with the German side, Dembélé was loaned out to Chinese Super League club Wuhan Zall until the end of the year.

Dembélé earned his first call-up to the national side of Mali, the country of his parents, for the friendly match against Congo DR, but did not feature in the game.

[19] On 8 February 2011, he finally made his debut for Mali, playing the first 45 minutes of the 0–1 loss against Ivory Coast in a friendly match.

[21] On 24 January 2012, Dembélé made his first appearance in an official tournament for Mali, entering the fray as a 64th minute replacement for Cheick Diabaté in the 1–0 win over Guinea.

He was handed the suspended sentence with a three-year probation period after being caught drink-driving in December and presenting police with a forged driving licence.