Everton defender Niels Nkounkou has been rewarded for his good form on loan at AS Saint-Étienne with a call up to the France’s U21 team.
AS Saint-Étienne confirmed the news in a tweet earlier today, reporting that the Everton man had been handed a ‘reward’ from manager Sylvain Ripoll.
Nkounkou has been with the French side since the January transfer window, when he cut short a loan deal at Cardiff City to return to his homeland on a temporary basis.
After a shaky start, he’s been impressing in Ligue 2, establishing himself in the starting 11 and featuring in 89% of the minutes available thus far.
He’s earned that playing time too, racking up five assists and two goals in ten appearances so far and rave reviews from those who have been watching him.
Indeed, we’ve covered some of those reviews, with a report earlier this month explaining just how well he was doing away from Everton.
That’s now been spotted by France’s set up, it seems, with the U21’s handing him a somewhat surprising call up for this international break when they will take on England and Spain in friendlies.
He replaces HSC defender Joris Chotard in the group after he had to miss out through injury and will surely be hoping he can take advantage of the opportunity as well as he has done at AS Saint-Étienne.
