By Alex Roberts
PSG’s transition from signing aging superstars to hot prospects may well be the best decision QSI have made since taking over back in 2012. Not only are they running away with the Ligue 1 title, the Champions League doesn’t seem like a dream anymore.
Désiré Doué is one of those hot prospects, joining from Rennes for a reported fee €50 million last summer. His potential has been evident since he broke into the first team at Roazhan Park two seasons ago, and he quickly outgrew his old teammates.
Tottenham fullback Djed Spence, who spent six-months on loan at Rennes in 2023 described Doué as a ‘generational talent’, lauding him as one of the best players he’s ever played with. Just a reminder, he doesn’t turn 20 until June.
He’s fearless and versatile, able to play anywhere along the forward line as well as the centre of the park as a midfielder. For someone so young he appears wise beyond his years, dropping a shoulder and gliding past players who’ve been playing a helluva lot longer.
Luis Enrique has managed him perfectly, limiting his minutes at the beginning of the season, starting him in lower stakes games and brining him on for the last 30 in the more important ones, helping him get to grips with the Spaniard’s specific style of play rather than throw him in at the deep end.
At around mid-December, Doué became harder and harder to leave out. His breakout performance was the 3-1 Ligue 1 win over Lyon. It took just eight minutes for PSG to open the scoring, Doué expertly wriggled past Ainsley Maitland-Niles before setting Ousmane Dembélé up with a low cross.
Neither he or PSG have looked back since. Doue has featured in every PSG game that’s followed, primarily as a central midfielder alongside fellow wonderkid João Neves and Fabián Ruiz, providing 18 goal contributions in that time.
In an era that has become so concerned with tactical philosophies and systems, Doué is a genuine entertainer. In that way, he’s much like Cole Palmer, he looks so unbothered, supremely confident in his own ability.
A box-to-box playmaker who is a lot quicker than one might think, his ball carrying and dribbling ability helps bring opposition defenders out of position and open up space to help play in teammates or go for goal.
Perhaps the most impressive part of Doué’s game is his work rate. He’s an attacking threat, yes, but he will bust a lung to win the ball back for his side, winning possession in the final third 12 times, winning 114 duels, and making 12 interceptions. Doué is the complete package.
Don’t take our word for it, Enrique has praised Doué for his hard work, saying: “At Rennes, we saw his technical ability, physicality and personality. Now, he’s reaping the rewards of his hard work.
“There is still plenty to do, but he’s at the right place and club to grow and play high-stakes matches. The Champions League level, as I tell the players, is like international duty – you’re up against the best players and coaches.”
Speaking of the Champions League, Doué came off the bench to add a little je ne sais quoi to PSG’s already impressive performance in their 1-0 win at Anfield, replacing Bradley Barcola to help secure a place in the quarter final.
No, he didn’t score in normal or extra time, although PSG had enough chances he probably should have done. He did, however, step up and score the winning penalty. Another reminder that the lad is only 19, brushing the pressure off to send the early tournament favourites out of the competition.
Shortly after, the notoriously hard to impress Didier Deschamps handed Doué his first international call up, bringing him on in their UEFA Nations League quarter-final second leg win over Croatia.
It was a similar story to the Liverpool game, normal time flew by, and then extra time, going to penalties with the aggregate score at 2-2. Doué stepped up once again, scoring France’s fourth penalty before Dayot Upamecano scored the winner.
Six days later he was the player of the match in PSG’s 6-1 win over relegation threatened Saint Etienne, scoring two goals in a 13-minute spell, sending them a massive 21 points clear at the summit of the Ligue 1 table.
The French league continuously proves to be the best in the world when it comes to producing and nurturing young talent, even if a fourth consecutive title is nothing more than a formality for PSG at this point.
Few of those young talents are quite as well rounded as Doué, however, and even fewer have the potential to reach levels he surpassed some time ago. We’re not fortune tellers, and no one can truly predict anything in football, but we’re confident in saying the future of PSG and the France national team is in safe hands with this young man.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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