Abdoulaye Doucouré

The humble Frenchman is a team-player on and off the pitch and prefers to take the team bus to work.

Born in Meulan-en-Yvelines, France, to Malian parents, he began playing football at a young age and joined the youth academy of OFC Les Mureaux as an eleven year old in 2004. Three years later he joined up with the youth system at Ligue 1 club Rennes, graduating in 2012 to join up with the first-team. The midfielder made his debut in the 2012/13 season for Le Rennais and scored a match winning goal in his debut, but his playing time was limited to only 4 appearances due to a cruciate knee ligament injury that kept him out for seven months. He would bounce-back strong and during his three-and-a-half season stint at the club, the midfielder grew in stature, cemented his place in the first team, and went on to score 13 goals while providing 10 assists in 102 appearances. On 1 February 2016, the Frenchman signed for Premier League club Watford for a fee of £8 million and was immediately loaned out to La Liga club Granada FC. He made his debut for the Spanish club, coming on as a second half substitute, in 2-1 loss to Real Madrid. He made 15 appearances for the Nazaríes and provided 2 assists to cap-off his season. The Frenchman made his Premier League debut for Watford against Tottenham Hotspur on January 2017, and scored his first goal for the club on 4 March 2017 as The Hornets fell to a 4-3 defeat to Southampton. The 2017/18 season would showcase the finest qualities of the box-to-box midfielder as he netted 7 times and provided 4 assist in 37 Premier League appearances. At the end of the season he was awarded Watford Player of the Season for his outstanding performances.