Abdoulaye Doucoure has done a new interview and made some very interesting revelations about one of his former managers at Everton.
The Frenchman is now into his fifth season with the Toffees having joined the club from Watford for around £20 million.
The star hasn’t had the best of campaigns, although a lot of players have struggled this term with Everton having flirted with the relegation zone for the most part.
But David Moyes recently replaced Sean Dyche and has helped Everton pull clear of the drop zone by nine points.
Abdoulaye Doucoure, like a lot of other players, has improved since the arrival of Moyes, and Everton fans are hoping to see the star find his best level in the second half of the season.
Doucoure has proven a solid signing overall since he came to Goodison from Watford, but there is one period at the club that he doesn’t look back on too fondly.
Abdoulaye Doucoure says Frank Lampard almost caused him to leave Everton
In January 2022, Everton sacked Rafael Benitez following a run of poor results.
The Spaniard left with Everton loitering just four points above the relegation zone, and Frank Lampard was appointed as his successor.
Lampard was able to keep Everton up but it went to the wire, and the following season he was sacked in January just short of his one-year anniversary at the club.
It was a poor stint, and a pretty miserable time for Doucoure, who struggled to gain the trust of the Chelsea legend.
Doucoure – who recently scored the fourth-fastest goal in Premier League history – has been speaking about Lampard on The Overlap Breakdown: Football Tactics show, and admitted that he actually came close to leaving due to Lampard’s lack of faith in him, which he felt was unfair.
He said: “I don’t really understand the next season what happened really. He didn’t trust me. I really don’t understand. This was my worst experience with a manager to be honest.
“Every manager has started me and trusted me, even if I was sometimes not starting every game. But I was a main player for each manager I played under. But Frank Lampard was the only who didn’t trust me a lot. I think he made a mistake with me to be honest.
“I’m a hard-working guy, I’m a very humble person, I work hard in training. Obviously, you can make choices, and I never contested the choices a manager makes. But sometimes you have to be fair and I think he was not fair with me. Leaving me on the bench for so many games, he didn’t give me my chance.”
Doucoure went on to suggest he almost left Everton in the 2022/23 season.
“It was very hard, I love Everton, but because of my relationship with him, I was pushing away. I was nearly out of the club. It was very sad for me, because when you start exploring your options going out, going to another club – I never wanted that.
“After a home game, we had a big argument, I was not happy, I told him the truth and he didn’t like it. The day after, they bring me to the club and said to me ‘You can’t stay with the team’. He said he felt disrespected by me in front of the players. They said to train with the U21s or train alone.
“I think he disrespected me a little bit at the time. I was very close (to leaving) to be honest. I was talking to a couple of Premier League clubs, obviously, I didn’t want it. But when you start training alone and not playing, the exit is very close. I was very, very close to leaving, it was heartbreaking for me to be honest.”
A relief that Doucoure stayed
It’s fascinating to hear these comments from Doucoure about Lampard, and how he actually came very close to leaving.
Lampard had to go when he did and Doucoure sure must have been relieved when the club made that decision.
And of course, it proved to be a very good thing for him as things turned around an he then became a mainstay under Sean Dyche.
Lampard has enjoyed some better times recently as manager of Coventry City in the Championship.
But his time at Goodison Park will not be fondly remembered.
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