Abdoulaye Doucoure has admitted that he feels ‘underrated’ by those in his home country of France, and also mentioned former Everton man Idrissa Gueye.
Speaking to Onze Mondial (via GFFN), the 27-year-old said: ‘I remember when I appeared on Canal Plus. I really didn’t enjoy it. It was at the time when PSG were tracking me. And one of the journalists was a bit pro-Idrissa Gueye at that time. It was not nasty but anyway. It was a bit like: Abdoulaye, you are a good player but you are not good enough to play for PSG or a big club. That hurt me a bit because I had been for three years performing in the Premier League. I had very good statistics, better ones than even certain French internationals.’
‘I still feel this thing: he is a good player but not a top player or not for a top club. In France, I am a bit underrated, yes, certainly.’
Doucoure – who Everton paid £20 million for in the summer – does have something of a point.
He has never been called up to the France national team, despite representing his country at Under-17, Under-18, Under-19, Under-20 and Under-21 level as Transfermarkt shows.
That is despite his successful career as a Premier League player, in which he’s scored 18 goals and recorded 12 assists in 139 appearances.
The £75,000-a-week man is eligible to play for Mali.
However, according to Mansour Loum, he has rejected their advances and is holding out for a call from Didier Deschamps.
Doucoure has an incredibly tough job on his hands to break into a squad containing the likes of N’Golo Kante, Tanguy Ndombele, Paul Pogba, Houssem Aouar and Eduardo Camavinga.
However, it does seem harsh that he hasn’t been handed a single cap at some stage of his impressive Premier League career.
Perhaps, as he states, he is underrated by those in France, who clearly haven’t been paying attention to his efforts on our shores.
With time on his side at 27, hopefully that call isn’t far away.
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