Maxime Dupuis, Deputy Chief Editor at Eurosport.fr, gives us the lowdown on new Watford signing Imrân Louza...
What sort of player have we signed?
“Imrân is a good, technical player. In France, we say he is a player with fibre. He can play short passes, has good feet and is a really promising player. He plays as a classic midfielder in a 4-4-2, to the left of the middle two and he adds class.”
We had two very good French midfielders in Abdoulaye Doucouré and Étienne Capoue. How does he compare to them?
“He doesn't really. He is less physical than these players. He is very, very technical. I can't even really compare him to anyone in the France national team because he isn't like [Paul] Pogba or [N'Golo] Kanté. There are not many players like him, actually. I don't want to compare him to [Andrés] Iniesta as that isn't fair, but he has those sort of technical qualities.”
He sounds a bit like Will Hughes. Hughes came through the youth system at Derby, but what is Louza's background?
“He's had all his career at Nantes and for many years they had the best school of football in France. He has very good technical ability and really helps keep possession, builds attacks and helps his midfield partner. He really started to flourish under former coach Christian Gourcuff in 2019/20 as they speak the same language of football.”
Nantes struggled this season and needed a play-off to stay in Ligue 1. How did Louza perform in a struggling side?
“He had a really good end to the season and was one of the main guys to help Nantes stay in the league; they won a play-off against Toulouse. The team had a lot of problems and it was a bit of a mess. He scored one and assisted another in an important 4-1 win at Stade Brest and we saw more of his character this season.”
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How will he fare in the Premier League which presents very different challenges to those posed by football in Ligue 1?
“The Premier League is such a tough championship. It's a hard league, but he has the technique, he has the qualities, he is young and he can improve. It will depend on who he plays with and the style, but he is a very promising player. Watford have done really well to get him early. There is a big problem in France with the TV deal and clubs there are being careful with their money, so Watford have moved quickly to get a talented player who has played six times for the Under-21s.”
