INTRODUCTION
In 2022, the U-17 European Championships were held in the Middle East. Unsurprisingly, France emerged victorious with a talented team that is now beginning to make their name at Europe's biggest clubs:
- Jeanuël Belocian, the promising full-back who joined Bayer Leverkusen in June 2024, is expected to excel under Xabi Alonso.
- Mathys Tel, the striker, is set to lead the line for Bayern Munich for the next decade.
- Désiré Doué is an incredibly talented dribbler who, like his national teammates, is now joining one of the biggest clubs in Europe, Paris Saint Germain.
What you may not know is that all of these players came through the same club, the same club that also produced Ousmane Dembele, Eduardo Camavinga, and Jeremy Doku (not a bad list). Rennes' success can be attributed to their clear pathway from the academy to the first team and the meaningful playing time for the players once they arrive. Doué debuted at 17 and quickly became a regular starter, shining at both CM and then LW.
PSG has added another midfield star to play alongside Warren Zaire Emery, Joao Neves & Vitinha. But what does Doué offer that those others can't do?
There is a video version if you prefer watching to reading but all our breakdowns will be on Reddit with stills and images.
THE SHUTTLER
Doué played under Bruno Genesio as a midfielder in his first season with Rennes. Despite his age, he learned to use his 6ft frame to devastating effect. He perfected the ability to receive the ball with his back to the goal, use his incredible dribbling to evade tacklers and dribble 50-60 yards up the field.
In the image above, the goalkeeper is playing the ball into Doué with the defender on his heels. In this instance, Doué can use his excellent dribbling and large frame to turn and drive up the field. Now, when he drives forward, it's with power and guile, a raw combination, with either foot, making him incredibly unpredictable and impossible to stop. It sounds simple, but it's an incredibly rare skill only the best midfielders have in their arsenal. It's because it allows a team to beat a press, and by doing so, you transition to attack whilst not allowing the opposition to retain their defensive shape.
Within a year of playing and developing in the first team, he glided forward, skipping past tackles into the final 3rd before linking up with his attackers. Out of all players to have 50+ successful dribbles in Europe's Top 7 league, Desire Doué had the best dribble success rate; he is the best in Europe at beating his man and driving up the field. It's a very similar role to what Angel Di Maria did after he moved from LW to CM, shuttling the ball up the field through incredible pace and dribbling.
Doué averaged four carries at the game with a distance of 165 yards. Nearly all of them finished in the final third, with half going further into the box.
There's one thing to love about Doué, not just the fluidity in which he moves, but the way he attacks space in the final third. When teams had space on the wing, he was comfortable dribbling into it to create space for the other attackers before cutting it back or laying it off. It's one of the reasons that the next season, under Julien Stephan, he began playing at LW in the second half of the season.
OFF THE BALLERS VS DRIBBLERS
To analyse Doué's performance at LW, we need to understand the two types of wingers: off-the-ballers and dribblers.
Off-the-Ball-ers have excellent off-the-ball movement, making relentless runs behind full-backs or into the Half-Space. They possess a wonderful first touch and aim to get into the opposition box to pick a pass or take a shot on target. They're the best types of wingers as they get into those dangerous zones and rack up goals and assists. The best Off The Ball-ers are Kylian Mbappe, Heung Min Son and West Ham's very own Jarrod Bowen
Dribblers prefer to hug the touchline and receive the ball at their feet. Operating from this position, they encounter an organised back line and often need to dribble past several players to enter the box. To excel in this role, they must deliver wide crosses or cut inside to take a shot. Some of the best dribbling wingers are Riyadh Mahrez, Franck Ribery and Birmingham's very own Jack Grealish.
Unfortunately, Doué is the latter, plagued by a terrible addiction that plagues many wingers -beating a defender. The significant difference in the end product is evident when we compare his performance per 90 minutes to that of Nico Williams.
The radar helps highlight the importance of off-the-ball movement and the ineffectiveness of dribbling wingers:
- Despite Doué's much better take-on success rate, Nico Williams touched the ball more in the opposition box.
- Where defenders can foul Doué outside the box when they struggle, they can't do the same with Williams, as they would concede a penalty.
- Doué doubled the open-play chances of Williams, but only one-third of the xA from open-play. The chances created inside the box are much better, including the highly effective cutback.
- Being able to cross with your weaker foot is essential for a dribbling winger, a skill Doué lacked.
- Doué scored four goals in 2023/24 with the following xG: 0.02, 0.05, 0.07, and 0.08. That combined to 0.22xG. Lucky.
The heatmap shows how much Williams attacked inside the box whilst Doué stayed on the edge.
William's exceptional performance in all scoring metrics suggests that Doué's future may not be as a winger. Although Doué is a skilled winger, he does not possess the qualities of a world-class winger, such as effective off-the-ball movement and clinical finishing. Although Doué is young and has potential for development, the instinct and drive to attack the space behind the defence is hard to teach. It would be unfair to him to continue playing him in that role. If positioned as the most advanced player in a midfield trio, Doué will have more time on the ball and be able to create chaos more effectively from a central position. Either way, he needs to improve his end product.
END PRODUCT
We showed the areas Doué dribbles to when he picks up the ball, into the final third and to the edge of the box. How well does he score and create from those positions?
In 2022/23, playing under Bruno Genesio, Doué didn't get into the box enough because when he did, he scored, converting three of his eight shots. Unfortunately, Doué wasn't great from outside the box as he failed to convert any of his 14 shots, and none had a higher xG than 0.1. In his second season at LW, he only scored one more goal despite nearly taking twice the amount of shots. In terms of goal-scoring, he is better suited to a central position but needs to improve on getting into the box instead of shooting from outside.
Now, his dribbling ability allows him to create high-quality chances as a playmaker. Doué can create opportunities by taking the ball and driving up the field, which forces defenders to move out of position and creates space for his teammates. This allows him to make simple progressive passes and slide players through to the goal with well-weighted balls. One aspect of his passing that stands out is how unselfish he is. Young wingers often over-dribble into danger and try to force a shooting opportunity, but Doué always has his head up and looks to pass. His decision-making, especially for a 19-year-old, is one of his best skills.
However, he still has the freedom and brilliance of a 19-year-old as he creates opportunities with tricky passes, back heels, chipped balls, and reverse-slipped balls. It's a risky style of passing, but it's highly effective. As he develops and works on this, it will only improve. He was responsible for creating 12 goal-scoring opportunities for Stade Rennais, making him one of only five teenagers to do so.
ICI C'EST PARIS
Luis Campos has come into PSG and revitalised this plagued midfield. They've gone from fielding an incredible but often injured Verratti alongside sub-par players such as Parades, Soler, Draxler & co. to one of European football's most exciting young midfields today. Joao Neves is a defensive wonder kid, Warren Zaire Emery is a silky passer, and Vitinha is exceptional at everything. In Doué, they've added a central attacking player who can skip past players with devastating skill and look to contribute to the final third.
Regarding comparisons, Eberechi Eze and Jamal Musiala are both excellent shouts. These players can play on the wing but create havoc from midfield with their exceptional dribbling and ability to drag players out of position. Doue has the added benefit of being a robust and determined tackler who works hard off the ball; as part of that quartet in PSG's midfield, Doué should look even better. I don't think it'll be too long until we see the Champions League trophy in the Parc Des Princes (or wherever they end up).
by FootballInTheWhip
5 Comments
Thank you
I read it in r/soccer and I loved the analysis
Very impressive & comprehensive post 👏
Great read! I share the same opinion as the article. Doué can be a competent winger, but he suffers from certain shortcomings that penalize him when he has to gauge the space around him while playing wide. It’s hard to imagine him competing against a natural winger like Barcola, who can stay wide and run off behind a defense the way Luis Enrique prefers.
Based on the way Luis Enrique has set up our team over the past year, I see him positioned as a box-to-box midfielder able to occupy the left half-space and carry the ball into the box but also out of our defense.
Great job OP !
Thank you OP!