After starting the season on the back foot, Désiré Doué, the 19-year-old versatile midfielder and winger, is coming into his own against Paris Saint-Germain. Widely used by Luis Enrique, he is beginning to make his mark, and for his former Rennes coach Mathieu Le Scornet (in L’Equipe), he is not the type to crack under pressure, in fact, he feeds off it.
Le Scornet “I’ve seen him disappointed and frustrated, but he’s never cracked in big matches”.
“There’s no context that’s more or less favorable for Désiré. Whatever the context, whatever jersey he’s wearing, these two react in the same way. They’re just focused on what they’re doing, they’re just playing soccer.
I’ve seen him disappointed and frustrated, but he never broke down in big matches when he was a teenager. On the contrary, in tournaments, the more the matches progressed, the better I saw him. At U12 level, I remember a final against Warren’s PSG (Zaïre-Emery) where Désiré played his best game because he could see what was at stake.”
It is the mark of great (or future great) players not to react negatively to pressure. Doué is above that. We saw him come on at Anfield and we quickly realized what a player he was. He remained calm and with a lot of nerve, he played like an experienced player. He took on his responsibilities and in extra time, he single-handedly pulled the English back.
He’s technically sound, he’s not afraid of anything, he’s ready for what’s to come and that’s great news for PSG. He’s not going to miss any opportunity to show that he’s got incredible qualities, and the message has got through in Europe, especially after his incredible start against Manchester City and the one against Liverpool.
