He's going to be really important to us now, and its imperitive he doesn't get injured. But he knows that, so played as though he was scared of getting injured and was hence, only about 50% effective so not that important to us.
I think you're being very generous with 50% but agree we need him fit for a month or two until we get back our key players. On reflection, the statement doesn't come as a surprise to me, I've long believed he thinks he's better than he is. The key to his best performances is discipline, operating to instruction and keeping to his given role. He's still young, has some good experience especially for his national side but he's far from the finished article. His last league performances demonstrated his potential to be key player for us but right now with everybody fit I wouldn't have him starting, both Youri and Bouba are a level above and Onana isn't, no matter what he thinks, a box to box player.
He can certainly go on to be a great midfielder, we've seen glimpses of how brilliant he can be but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Right now we'd be lucky to get our money back with his injury record. I really like him but let's keep those feet on the ground. He's no Makélélé, Kanté or Michael Essien but there's nothing stopping him aiming to be.
