France coach Didier Deschamps was full of praise for Aurélien Tchouaméni after the AS Monaco midfielder scored the winning goal in his country’s 2-1 friendly victory over South Africa on Friday.
“Aurélien is top class. He has enormous potential and so much self-control. He had already shown that in his previous matches, either when he started or coming off the bench. The young players are coming through too and that’s great,” Deschamps said after Tchouaméni’s last-gasp header secured the win in Marseille.
Tchouaméni, who turned 22 in January, won his eighth cap for Les Bleus in the game and marked his fourth full international start with his first goal for his country.
“He offers us something different. We have tended to use him in a more defensive role but he has the ability to get forward too. He is young but he is the complete midfielder,” Deschamps said in an interview with TF1 show Téléfoot.