Didier Deschamps says Matteo Guendouzi is a player with very good potential, but urges everyone not to ask too much of him too soon.
Matteo Guendouzi received a call-up for the French national team over the international break, after an injury to Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba.
Guendouzi didn’t get any minutes in the 4-1 win over Albania on Saturday, though he still has an opportunity to feature against Andorra this Tuesday before returning to Arsenal.
France coach Deschamps says we need to be patient with the young midfielder, even if he does appear to have a bright future ahead of him.
“Do not ask him too much, he’s a young player, still in the Espoirs (u21) generation,” Deschamps said (via Maxifoot).
“He’s playing a lot of games with Arsenal, where there’s a lot of competition, he’s a modern midfielder, box to box, with a lot of volume and technical qualities.
“What I expect is that he brings his freshness, his dynamism. He is a very young player but with very good potential.”
Regardless of whether he ends up featuring on the pitch for France this time around, the experience of being with the senior national team is still going to be positive for the 20-year-old.
The confidence that a call-up should give Guendouzi will also act as motivation to keep pushing forward and improving with Arsenal, which is good news for everyone. Still, it would be nice to see him getting a debut on Tuesday, even if only for a few minutes.