Désiré Doué (18) was one of the brightest stars in Ligue 1 for Stade Rennais last season, but his development has since begun to stall as playing time has decreased under new manager Julien Stéphan.
It is a situation that has led Foot Mercato to question whether we might see renewed interest from across Europe for the prodigious midfielder in January.
This was meant to be the season where Doué took his talents to a new level, with the young star convinced over the summer to continue his development at Les Rouge et Noirs rather than entertaining more lucrative offers from France and across Europe.
In part, this was because Rennais have one of the greatest academies in Europe, and their demonstrable abilities in identifying and developing players have led to Eduardo Camavinga (21), Mathys Tel (18), and Lesley Ugochowku (19) becoming starters at elite clubs.
The Problem for Doué
Since signing a three-year deal over the summer, Doué has not featured consistently for the club. The midfielder has made only five starts across all competitions, with the majority of his appearances coming from the bench.
If Doué had hoped this would change with the arrival of Stéphan then he was sorely mistaken. The manager has only trusted the young talent with limited minutes in three games. Which, over the weekend, saw Doué feature for only thirteen of the ninety in a 0-0 draw against Toulouse.
However, Stéphan has been quite clear in the press that the chance will come for Doué but it will rely on the player rediscovering something within his playing style: ‘His talent is not in question, but what I’ve asked him to do was to find a form of carefreeness, we talked a lot about that.’
The manager continued that this is what he wanted from Doué as ‘being carefree generates creativity: you make good choices when you have to dribble, pass, etc. He is a talented player and he will have opportunities.’
Will the opportunities be at Rennais?
Those opportunities that Stéphan spoke of will come for a player who is considered the jewel of Rennais, but whether they will come for Les Rouge et Noirs or another team across Europe will be the question for Doué as the winter transfer window approaches.
Foot Mercato questions whether his frustrations at being left on the sidelines could force a situation where the player reconsiders his future development at Rennais and could perhaps look to another club where he can guarantee more playing time.
If Doué were to question the resolve of the club to keep him, there would be no shortage of interested parties, and considering Rennais’ history in the transfer market, as a team willing to sell, there would be a real opportunity for a club to secure the player at the right price.
