Following some comments from Everton midfielder Abdoulaye Doucouré about his decision to not go to the Africa Cup of Nations in January, there has been some reaction in Mali, brought to us by Afrique Sports.
The 30-year-old has only played for the African country twice, prior to the 2022 World Cup, and hasn’t featured since.
However, there was hope he could be convinced to leave Everton for a month and help out Mali despite being born in France and playing for their youth teams.
Doucouré has made it clear that wasn’t part of his plans, but there are some who believe he could still change his mind, such as Cheick Oumar Konte.
The journalist said: “You have to put your pride and ego behind you and convince Abdoulaye Doucouré to come. He can bring something extra compared to the other midfielders we have at the moment. He’s Malian and anyone can make a mistake.
“It’s true that he’s been deeply injured since his first bad experience during the Qatar 2022 playoff, but Doucouré has to come help his nation, his country.”
He isn’t the only one to have commented it on it, as the Mali manager, Eric Chelle, recently had a chat with Canal+ about the player’s declarations.
He said: “It’s a disappointment. My role now is not to comment on what he says, but to find a profile to strengthen this area of the game. I have a list of 16 midfielders in my database.”
There’s no denying that Doucouré has been crucial to Everton’s chance of survival following their 10 point deduction, as he has scored six goals in 17 appearances and has been a near immovable object in Sean Dyche’s plans, for very good reasons.
