Domenico Tedesco surprised many by selecting Julien Duranville for the Red Devils. This choice does not receive unanimous approval.
After the Red Devils’ missed Euro this summer, Dominic German must breathe new life into the national team.
This involves selecting young people who have not yet had – or very little – their chance in selection. It is with this in mind that Tedesco has called Julien Duranville for the Nations League matches. On the set of The Tribunethe former Red Flame and Standard player Cécile De Gernier gave his opinion on the selection of the young winger (18 years old) from Borussia Dortmund.
“We can say what we want about his talent but he doesn’t have twenty professional matches under his belt. What is the point of the youth team then?” she wonders. “Mbangula is selected as a youth team but has played and proven more with Juventus in a few months than Duranville in three years.”
“I don’t understand the consistency. I’m not saying that one day he shouldn’t be there, but the national team has to be earned, there are things to prove, there is a path to follow, a hierarchy that is established (…) At the professional level, he hasn’t shown anything. He’s been promoted twice in a year and a half.”
Former coach of the Red Devils, Marc Wilmots intervened to add a nuance. “There is perhaps the fact that he could choose other selections. Perhaps there is the desire to open the door to him to see if he feels good. It is something that I did in particular with Zakaria Bakkali when he was sixteen, because he could opt for other selections (…) When he comes back, he plays in front of 80,000 people in the Champions League. If he is physically good, we will see that he is a bomb.”
