Doucoure seeks to shock history-chasing Citizens
Watford’s Abdoulaye Doucoure is a wanted man after a second stellar season in the Premier League, but wants to make history for the Hornets if today’s FA Cup final against treble-chasing Manchester City is to be his last game for the club.
The Frenchman has travelled far to get to what he describes as the biggest game of his career at Wembley, where Watford could win their first-ever major trophy.
A talented teenager, he starred alongside Paul Pogba at youth level for France but two cruciate knee ligament injuries stalled his progress, forcing him to miss the under-20 World Cup in 2013 that Les Bleus went on to win.
“When you had something very hard in your career you want something very nice, and a final is something very nice,” Doucoure told AFP at Watford’s training ground.
Doucoure has been a Watford player since February 2016 after a reported £8 million (RM42.7 million) move from Rennes.
However, no sooner had he arrived than he was shipped out on loan to La Liga side Granada, also then in the portfolio of Watford owners the Pozzo family, for the rest of the season.
Even on his return, though, Doucoure was often surplus to requirements under Walter Mazzarri and would have been loaned to Lorient had the paperwork for the deal not missed the transfer deadline by 33 seconds.
Instead, he stayed put as Mazzarri moved on and his performances over the past two seasons, scoring 12 goals and providing 10 assists from midfield, have sparked transfer speculation linking the 26-yearold with a £50 million summer move to Arsenal, Chelsea or Paris Saint- Germain.
However, he is clear that Champions League football is the target.
That ambition comes not only from wanting to play at the highest level, but also the desire for international recognition.
Starring in the Premier League has not yet been enough to catch France coach Didier Deschamps’s eye and Doucoure accepts that is to be expected while he stays at Watford.
What better stage than against the Premier League champions in front of a worldwide audience at Wembley to show Deschamps and potential suitors what he is capable of?
“It’s a game I can show my quality to everyone in England and France as well,” he added.
Watford will hope it is City that suffer a shock as they attempt to a land a first-ever League Cup, Premier League and FA Cup haul in English football history.