He is imposing, muscular and energetic. He reads the game well and has excellent vision. Fittingly, for a player who counts Kevin De Bruyne and Paul Pogba among his chief inspirations, he is also a driving force in possession, capable of unpicking a defence with a pass (witness his contribution to France’s first goal in the third-place play-off against Holland) or bursting through the lines with a steam-train surge.
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“He looked really comfortable on the pitch,” Minonzio continues. “He is a modern midfielder, with that ability to play box-to-box. He’s quick and very good with both feet. And he’s very comfortable on the ball: you can see he’s technically gifted. He has a good shot on him, and is very accurate with his long passes. When you put it all together, you could see he had huge potential.”
Minonzio, like Agoume himself, highlights similarities with Pogba. But there are obvious points of departure – Agoume is less showy and more capable defensively – and not everyone is convinced that the comparison is an instructive one.
“Obviously for a young French player, it’s absolutely normal that Pogba could be an example,” says Samaden. “But I think Lucien’s characteristics are a little bit different. Lucien is more of a deep playmaker: I think that’s the right role for him on the pitch. He is someone who can construct the play, a very technical player. Pogba, for me, is another kind of midfielder, one who can play further forward. But it’s a small difference, not a big one.”