Désiré Doué – Scout Report

Since making his debut at the age of 17 last season, Désiré Doué has been a talent that’s been on the simmer during his continued development. Now having established himself in the first team in 2024, and having had his hand in 10 goals this season, the big clubs seem ready to pounce on the teenage prospect.

With so much talk about the french winger, I took a look at what makes him stand out as a player and whether he’s ready for the next step up.

Playstyle

In attack

Doué is, first and foremost, a fantastic dribbler. Starting from his first, setting touch, and even the quality of his take-downs against aerial balls, he’s fantastic at giving himself the platform to run at his opponent.

By consistently allowing the ball to come onto the inside of his weaker left foot, he’s able to immediately square up to his opponent, goal-facing and with all angles at his disposal. The balance over the ball that this affords him means he’s able to push off that left foot quickly using his stronger right foot to take the next touch.

From there, the teenager does a perfect job of attacking his opponents. Always moving inwards on the diagonal with quick, minor touches over the ball, Doué’s consistently able to force his opponent to backpedal as the angle of approach means he gets to dictate whether he then cuts inside or out.

From this point, his favoured move is to push inside, either straight from this position or with the aid of fainting to go on the outside. The approach as a whole is very effective, as seen in his successful take-on rate of 58.9%, which ranks in the 99th percentile among attacking midfielders and wingers from across the Big 5 and European competition this season.

This is obviously great for creating the separations necessary to get off key final third actions that help create chances, directly or indirectly, hence his average of 0.68 take-ons per 90 that lead to shots (91st percentile) and 0.14 average of take-ons that lead to goals (96th percentile).

He’s also excellent at using both feet to manoeuvre the ball in tight spaces and at using the left side of his body in particular to shield the ball and hurdle challenges when cutting inside. Where you’d like to see more of the latter, however, is in his take-ons around the outside, especially over longer distances.

His initial bursts of speed are extremely effective at creating separations in either direction, but once Doué’s required to take additional touches and contend with the physical side, he doesn’t commit himself as well as he could, even in spite of his small frame.

Part of this could be that his speed over longer distances is inferior to his speed over the first few yards, but he could certainly do more to get the right side of his body across his man earlier by putting more priority on it over ensuring the extra touch, as it’s what makes it easier to muscle him off the ball. This is the likely reason behind his less-than-impressive average of 1.87 times being tackled during take-ons per 90 (40th percentile). Since he knows he can be more easily outmuscled going this way, given that the ball is more exposed, he tends to opt out of these ball-carries pretty quickly, even when he’s in position to get his body fully across his man first.

As a broader issue, whichever way he takes the ball, he can fall victim to tunnel vision. His head drops during these runs and he doesn’t get it back up to assess the situation until he has the time to, apart from situations where his ball carry is working in service of a progressive action that he’s pre-meditated.

On the cut-in from the left wing, there’s some leeway afforded by the view of the pitch it gives him but even then his decision-making and execution can lead to mistakes, especially when he’s so close to the box and his window of opportunity is therefore much smaller. Otherwise, he’ll create himself the space, inside or out, and not have a real idea of where and how he’s supposed to deliver the ball.

It also makes it very difficult for him to make a dent from more central positions because of the lack of necessary foresight. For all of his excellent footwork and speed with the ball through tight spaces, he inevitably runs into trouble or can’t get off the right pass because his initial awareness of the situation prior to the ball run is, at that point, outdated.

This is also evident down the other end of the pitch following deep turnovers. Despite his ability to glide through space and combine past opposition, Doué can appear to be like a deer in the headlights when he’s facing counter-pressure and isn’t already sure of where the space is or his teammates are.

His default scan of choice is to look deep of him to assess where the immediate sources of pressure are coming from and how much pressure he’s under, which somewhat blinds him to forward options then when he’s got his back to goal, meaning he can be guilty of running the ball back into congested areas or not utilising the space ahead with where he offers.

It unfortunately currently puts a bit of a ceiling on his ability to be incisive in the final third when, otherwise, his forward-thinking nature can be real strengths of his. Whenever he has a moment more to think or an ounce more space to play with, he always gets his head up to scan his options, both before receiving and when on the ball. It often leads to him playing quickly through the lines, exploiting gaps cleverly, and instigating plenty of very clean and effective combinations.

Whilst he can occasionally be a (singular) step slow to getting off a pass into a dangerous run, his speed and the willingness of his forward releases – combined with his ingenuity when it comes to creating some of his own passing angles – is why he ranks in the 93rd percentile for passes into the penalty area (averaging 2.41 per 90). These progressive plays through tight spaces really illustrate the best of Doué’s ball manipulation, both from settled states and when taking the ball in his stride. Similar to his dribbling, though, once you move beyond short distances, issues start to arise by way of execution.

When he has that time to find an option, he’s typically alert to them and doesn’t lack too much in the way of ambition, but it’s the weight of pass that frequently lets him down. On the near side and with through balls that are more vertical, he tends to overcook them; towards the far side, with flatter passes that look to spread the play, he tends to undercook them.

The bigger issue of the two is certainly overweighting incisive passes. He has no trouble zipping the ball through at some speed using the inside of his boot, but varying his technique to help him increase control could potentially be a helpful step forwards.

Putting too much on balls is even more evident from his crossing attempts. When going to the outside onto his weaker foot, Doué usually puts a bit too much air into the ball and doesn’t often go for the more optimal low-ball crosses, either cutting it back or putting it across the face of goal, when at the byline. The aforementioned issues commanding control on the outside don’t make this any easier, as it’s then tougher to get firmly over the ball and therefore more difficult to avoid getting too far under at contact.

On the cut-in, the #33 can generate deadly whip on the ball but it’s scarcely paired with control. Sometimes the aforementioned awareness issues during ball-carries mean he will play the ball when it’s not on, and vice versa. His persistence on driving the ball hard means, even if he delivers it at the right time, the accuracy to find the man on the far-side isn’t regularly there.

Similar can be seen from his, usually in-swinging, corners, which possess a lot of length and dip but not the adequate accuracy needed to pick teammates out regularly, hence his 0.18 shot-creating actions per 90 from dead balls (49th percentile).

In the broader scheme, this all helps to explain his lowly 74.8% pass completion (44th percentile), his 1.78 key passes per 90 (54th percentile) and 0.19 expected assists per 90 (57th percentile).

Where the passing figures do rank more in his favour, though, are in how progressive they tend to be. The aforementioned passes into the penalty area figure is also backed up by his 3.46 passes into the final third (84th percentile), total average of 6.7 progressive passes (93rd percentile) and his progressive passing distance of 164.79 yards per 90 (81st percentile).

There is, however, a caveat to these more impressive figures, which stems from his movement and positioning. One factor is that he has played in central midfield at times this season, so his deeper positions obviously boost those figures compared to players who play exclusively higher up.

As an interior #8 or as part of a double pivot in general, there’s room for improvement when it comes to creating separations to receive in buildup against. Out wide, he does execute double movements to create separations before receiving, but even then he’s reluctant to do so closer to his marker, like is the case in the middle, where space away from his man his harder to come by.

However, his commitment to lateral movement and exploitation of space between the lines is good from this position. Still from the left side, where he can see much of the play across him, he’s not scared of shifting across on the diagonal to occupy vacant pockets, pin spaces, and help link play to on the right or to the left.

As a wide man, Doué isn’t yet the most natural mover relative to the opposition’s back line. With the halfspaces often starting quite vacant, there’s an onus on the strikers to get across to fill the space, but there’s also some responsibility on the wingers’ ends to rotate inside. Whilst these inversions have improved gradually, there’s still a tentativeness to the way Doué moves inside that makes it difficult to team up with his fullback to fully manipulate the wing.

What’s more damaging is the lack of verticality to his movement. The one layer to his rotations that still lacks are those runs into depth. He’s far from the sort of player to invade the back post space or to test his fullback with out-to-in runs over the shoulder. This can be seen from the middle, too, in how he pulls up short on some of his runs from deep, missing out on channels to attack.

Doué will make runs into depth as a far-sided outlet on the switch, but these carry the intention of getting the ball to feet to allow him to take on his man, rather than seeing him get on the end of a ball in behind his man. The frenchman prefers this sort of scenario in every state, as seen by his tendency to pull wide and short, be it in transition or in general phases of buildup.

Even in the instances when he’s effectively attacking the space down the line, he’s always reluctant to really challenge the space closer to or in behind his opponent – he eventually wants a ball that’s flat out wide to him.

The reason behind it could be to do with distrusting his own speed over greater distances or how he would handle those duels at speed. The latter certainly seems the more fitting reason since what he opts for is much lower-pressure. Even then, though, he’s not looking to avoid opposition – he still wants to engage them at every juncture, but on terms that he’s more comfortable with.

The big downside to this – beyond the lack of spatial exploitation that could come from looking to receive on the run against his opposite number – is the recovery time it affords the opposition. It means Doué, at best, frequently comes out of these take-ons producing the same action (pass or shot) that he could’ve done far earlier when it would’ve been done a lot more damage.

This, for me, is crucial context to his very high progressive numbers. Not just the aforementioned passing figures, but also his ball-carrying stats. His attempted (5.88) and successful (3.46) take-ons, his progressive carrying distance (167.93 yards), and his carries into the final third (4.24) all rank extremely high because he sets himself up to succeed in this way. That’s not to say every progression is an opportunity that he shrinks the value of, but there are plenty of instances where it is such the case.

This is also reflected in his ball receptions. His progresses passes received average of 9.56 is solid, as indicated by its 75th percentile rank, but his 4.05 touches in the opposition’s box ranks in just the 51st percentile. With those deep progressions allowing spaces ahead to tighten up and his lacking movement ahead of the ball, it’s tough for him to involve himself in chances in the box as much as would be ideal.

When it comes to his shooting, it’s unsurprising, then, that most of his efforts are from range. His average shooting distance is as far as 18.7 yards out (36th percentile) and his non-penalty expected goals per shot sits at just 0.06 (7th percentile).

The numbers don’t get much brighter from there, either, because he can be a little wild with his execution. Typically, his adjusting touches in the buildup to shots can be excellent, but some of his very final touches can sometimes lead him ever so slightly astray, and Doué’s not always the best at acknowledging this by aborting those shots or adjusting how he takes them on. So, the result is a loss of control, where he finds himself frequently leaning back rather than getting his head over the ball, which sees it sent it high and wide with too much regularity.

And, with his persistence on using the inside of his boot instead of also using his laces, he makes it harder for himself to stay over the ball, hence his 34% shot accuracy (42nd percentile). Even though his shot selection can be a weak spot as a result of his tunnel vision and the more limited situations away from goal he usually finds himself in, there is stuff to work with if he can improve his positioning and run-making.

Thankfully, there have been a few signs of improvements to the latter. Whilst these runs do seem to taper off, if only in terms of clarity, and aren’t completely consistent to every situation yet, Doué has begun to incorporate more runs from deep as the season’s progressed. The most prominent examples are third man runs in transitions, which were severely lacking given his wanting of the ball to feet all the time.

The 18-year-old is clearly very mouldable, and if he can continue to expand and fine-tune his movement off the ball in this way, he could add another dimension to his game that will help him raise the quality of those chance-getting and chance-converting figures.

In defence

What’s eye-catching about Doué out of possession is his technical approach. He does a fantastic job in zonal positions of shaping his body in the best way possible to block passing lanes.

Particularly when playing out on the left, he’s light on his feet, very alert to the oncoming ball, spreads his stance to give him the best chance to shift in either direction, and angles himself diagonally to cast his cover shadow over the wide option.

This is backed up by the numbers, his 1.64 passes blocked and 0.96 interceptions per 90 rank in the 99th and 94th percentiles, respectively.

Although his blind-sided awareness could be better, it’s this ability to shift his body and how sharp his reading of the ball-holder’s play is that allows him to cut out entries through the lines, which has been important when playing as a central midfielder.

It’s in the more direct duels that Doué’s presence lacks. Out wide, he’s generally good at not over-committing – sometimes under-committing, if anything – by displaying a similar stance as above, which is good suffocating a ball-holder’s space when doubling up on them.

What can lack is the conviction in some of his tackles. He’s obviously not a hugely physical player, and that comes across in his challenges – even if he cleanly gets at the ball, he’ll often tackle it back against the ball-holder, which allows for favourable ricochets that keep the ball moving in their stride.

As a wide man, his pressing is another relative strong point, too. He’s quick out thanks to his pace and alertness, and he curves his runs sensibly to direct play back inside, and he shows very good positional discipline and awareness of the inside options on his blind side by adjusting his cover shadow.

This, along with his zonal interventions, have bore plenty of fruit with his defensive actions leading to shots 0.14 times and goals 0.05 times per 90, which might not sound a lot, but rank extremely highly for someone playing his position (94th & 96th percentiles respectively).

Despite his vigilance, he isn’t typically an obsessive scanner of his blind side, so his forward-leaning tendencies, which work well out wide, do come under greater interrogation in the middle. It’s harder to press out from the centre, not least because of the responsibility he has to maintain central coverage, but he can still be routinely drawn out to opponents in front that then expose the space between the lines. Given that Doué’s intensity can drop when it comes to getting back as deep as the last line itself, this can be extremely costly.

And, when he’s then left to recover frantically, he has the typical attacker’s issue of chasing the ball-holder’s exact trail, as opposed to thinking ahead and looking to cover where they’re headed. Especially given his lacking physicality, this can make him very easy to shrug off and makes it so difficult to get a clean foot on the ball to intervene.

Also weakened by playing in the centre is how he handles himself in direct duels. He likes to anticipate and block passes the way he does out wide, but the issue with doing so from the middle is that his shaping side-on can leave the space beyond him vulnerable.

Whilst he still jockeys pretty well with his dynamic lateral shifting, he can be caught out by 1-2 combinations and sharp turns due to how he approaches tackles. In these situations, he is guilty of overstepping – doing so sometimes with a narrower body shape, but mostly by leading with his one foot out to where the ball is at that moment, as opposed to shutting down all angles by planting with the one foot from the outside/behind to then spring across with his other to suffocate the ball-holder.

Compare this to what Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton, for instance, who I wrote about recently and does exactly this to smother his opponents.

So, while the volume of dribblers he attempts to tackle and successfully tackles ranks highly, by an attacker’s standards, his success rates do not. He tackles just 34% of dribblers he contests (32nd percentile) and loses 1.41 challenges per 90 (6th percentile).

For all of his ineffectiveness at breaking up play in front, he’s not willing enough as a wide midfielder, let alone a central midfielder, to track or hold as deep as is necessary of a player with greater defensive responsibilities.

Conclusion

Despite Julien Stéphan’s use of him as a central midfielder, I, personally struggle to see the upside to his use there. At least in the short-to-medium term, anyways, as it has often dimmed his offensive impact and exposed his defensive flaws.

As a left-winger, there’s plenty to work with, even if it’s currently a very unpolished product. The technical soundness to his ball manipulation and defensive jockeying, along with his speed and intensity, are great assets for any team. While awareness issues do concern me, also, he’s got years ahead of him to develop and there are plenty of top-level environments out there these days that camouflage the issues he has incredibly well.

For instance, Arsenal, who have been heavily linked with the frenchman, cater to so many different profiles perfectly under Arteta. Gabriel Martinelli, who he would hypothetically be in competition with, has plenty of his own issues when it comes to tunnel vision, and much more when it comes to technical security on the cut-in, yet he has excelled in the past under the Spaniard because those drawbacks were muted.

While Doué could certainly turn out to be a highly-regarded attacking prospect, he’s still a long way from becoming an attacking necessity for a top flight team. For now, his volume of input from skewed positions and how his game in general can seemingly be moulded and improved at rapid speed seem like the key reasons why big clubs are already sniffing around. And, even if he isn’t an out-and-out starter, there are plenty of top environments where the coaching could help him develop into a potential starter, or at least into a player that could come out the other side better for it with the knowledge acquired.

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