There was a Doué in the headlines as France played the Ivory Coast in a World Cup warm-up on Thursday, but it wasn’t Desiré.
La Gazzetta dello Sport write how it was Guela Doué who provided an assist and scored a goal as the Ivory Coast won in France. As the older brother of the more famous Desiré, it was nice to get one over in the sibling rivalry in Nantes. All this after he also sang the French national anthem.
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Another Milan regret?
Guela plays for Strasbourg, and like the two-time European champion, he was born in Angers in 2002 to a French mother and an Ivorian father. He primarily grew up playing football at Rennes’ academy, where he made his debut in 2022, alongside his little brother, who was three years younger.
The two Doués remained in Brittany – even playing against Milan in the Europa League – until 2024, when they parted ways. The defender joined Strasbourg, the striker PSG. Both are now in Ligue 1, with different but ascendant trajectories.
Guela narrowly missed out on the Conference League final this year, while Desiré repeated his Champions League triumph, converting his penalty against Arsenal, following his brace and assist a year ago in the 5-0 win over Inter.
In the league, the two Doués had already faced each other three times, drawing and winning apiece. Yesterday in Nantes marked their first opportunity to face off for their respective national teams.
Guela made the front page of L’Equipe as the man of the match. Stealing the spotlight from his more famous brother, he confirmed himself as one of the most promising full-backs around. Last summer he was again in the sights of Milan, who ‘then chose Estupinan’.
Complete BS, Guela Doue is a right back while Estupinan is a left back. You shouldn’t (re)post things such as this/these.
people here arent smart enough to know that, they just want to be angry
The truth is they chose Athekame instead of Doue in the end just like Emerson “prevailed” over T. Santos, it isn’t like they didn’t make any mistake at all.
Strasbourg wanted minimum 30 mil for Doue. Milan paid 10 mil for Athekame. They chose the cheaper player
We could’ve snatched Doue for 25 or maybe less and some favourable bonuses and percentages. He isn’t three times better than Athekame but sometimes you need to invest some more money in order to get over the line and achieve something which would bring you significant return and I don’t mean financially…
And with the cheaper player Milan fails.
The fact is Milan spent a lot of money on players in recent season without any success. Musah, Bondo, Fofana and RLC, they are still here. We could have bought quality players if the management didn’t mismanage the club that badly.
You mean like they did with Jashari and CDK?
Just because you spend more doesn’t mean you get a better player. Doue still plays in the French league. Milan could have spent the extra money, buy Doue and he could have also been just as bad as Estupinian. You never know how it pans out until the player starts playing for his new team in a new league. Doue isn’t a guarantee.
Brugge is a whole another matter. It’s not Doue I am sad about, it’s the fact we didn’t buy someone better than both of them instead of settling with Athekame, we demonstrated our humble and modest ambitions with Athekame, De Winter, Odogu, Estupinan, Ardon, Ricci, NK1 and NK2.
How is it a different matter?
You said sometimes you need to invest some more money to get the deal over the line. Thats exactly what Milan did with both CDK and Jashari. The club doesn’t make any difference. Milan could have walked away from the deals and sign cheaper players like they did with Doue, instead they invested the extra money and got those deals over the line. Milan could have bought that Valencia midfielder Guerra for 10 mil less than they the extra money they invested to get the deal done for Jashari.
First of all, settle FOR, not settle with, my bad.
What I meant to say is that Brugge is a track to follow, some shady business is going on there. Dealing with them almost certainly has its own background story, I am not yet sure which one. Not to get THE (particular) DEAL over the line but to improve an overall state of things and
to strenghten the squad in general. There are many factors involved in each of this matters, Doue might’ve stayed in Ligue 1 and that may look bad for him but that doesn’t need to mean anything, the market is cruel and unpredictable and fluctuant and volatile. His price is blown out of proportion and he is overvalued compared to many other right backs, there’s no denying it, but sometimes you need to invest few millions more and then hope for the best in the long run. I am sure you get what I’m trying to relay, you understand the concept. CDK and Ardon actually exactly prove my point and so does Nkunku for that matter, maybe even Gimenez but he’s an slightly different and easier “case” to explain and resolve, that was a forced transfer.
*a few millions more,
a slightly (I added this, hence the typo)
Doue is a RB. Athekame was the one we wasted money on instead of Doue
Why do you think it was a wasted money? Because he didn’t come in his first season and looked like prime Cafu? He is 21 years old.
Doue plays in the farmers league and a MOTM display in a friendly? I’m so impressed.
remind me again, the current BdO & back2back UCL winner play in which league?
if they are farmers, then what is serie A? manure?
PSG win their league every year, just as Bayern win theirs. They are both joke leagues. You’re confusing the strength of a team with the strength of a league.
He’s actually right on this topic, Ligue 1 and BL are not strong and competitive leagues and they are both still (even if it is just for a little bit) worse than Serie A even nowadays.
so what? club bought player, not the league..
In conclusion, Mr Unknown is pretty bad, Period.
Let’s be real, would he develop with us as he did in France? I’m leaning towards a no
No, he would probably regress or (at best) stagnate.
What are we doing here? Doue is a right back. We got Athekame who is quite promising for a song. Stop riling us up! We are already upset enough as is!
Doue is a RB, Estupinan is a LB. This article had one intention. To invite negative comments about a player and the comparison doesn’t even fit. Fail.