LONDON
\nMalo Gusto\u2019s proven big match-winning temperament will stand him in good stead as he looks to challenge Jules Kounde for the starting berth as France\u2019s right back at the World Cup.
\nThe 23-year-old was part of the Chelsea team which won the Europa Conference League and Club World Cup last season and despite the Londoners\u2019 subsequent poor campaign \u2014 in which they finished a dismal 10th in the Premier League \u2014 Gusto has done enough to convince France coach Didier Deschamps to take him to the World Cup.
\nGusto told AFP that it has been the fulfilment of a childhood dream and has made him \u201chugely proud\u201d.
\nHis inclusion in the 26-man squad speaks volumes of Deschamps\u2019s view of Gusto, not least since midfielder Eduardo Camavinga missed out following Real Madrid\u2019s mediocre campaign.
\nIndeed Gusto paid tribute to a Chelsea teammate as having brought him on in leaps and bounds since he joined from Ligue1 side Lyon for a reported 30 million euros ($35 million) in 2023.
\n\u201cReece James has been tops,\u201d said Gusto of the England fullback whom he is in direct competition with for a starting berth at club level.
\n\u201cHe is someone I have learnt a lot from since coming to Chelsea.\u201d
\nGusto, who has nine caps to his name since being blooded in 2023, says that former Barcelona and Brazil legend Dani Alves is the benchmark for him as a fullback.
\n\u201cHe is someone who had all the qualities of a modern fullback, who defended well but attacked very effectively as well,\u201d said Gusto.
\nGusto admits that he is far from the finished article, having only switched to fullback aged 17.
\n\u201cDefensively there are a lot of areas where I could do better,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cIn attack I could bring more with regards to statistics.
\n\u201cBut I am working on it, indeed working very hard. \u201cThat is what pays off every time. It is not magic, everyone knows that. \u201cWhen you work as you should, you obtain results.
\n\u201cThat is what helps me a lot. It is because of that that I am in the French squad.\u201d
\n\u2018Reference point\u2019
\nGusto, Manchester City\u2019s Rayan Cherki and Paris Saint Germain\u2019s two-time Champions League-winning forward Bradley Barcola all came through the Lyon academy at the same time.
\n\u201cTo see us three here is something really beautiful,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cThe Lyon youth system is recognised worldwide.
\n\u201cThere is a Lyon DNA: Bradley, Rayan and myself, we are all ball players.
\n\u201cThe academy taught us a lot about how to play.
\n\u201cTo not be afraid of using the ball in the best possible fashion.\u201d
\nAs France bid to regain the World Cup that they won in 2018 before losing the 2022 final to Argentina, Gusto said that the whole squad is on the same page as Deschamps leads the national side for the final time at a major tournament.
\n\u201cThat helps, of course,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cI endeavour to bring my energy, my carefree attitude as well.
\n\u201cI am there to put my brick in the building.
\n\u201cWe have players like Kylian (Mbappe), Ousmane (Dembele), who are among the best players in the world.
\n\u201cTo have connections with them on the pitch is magnificent.\u201d
\nKounde may be the incumbent right back but he is four years older than Gusto, who has a long-term objective.
\n\u201cI would like to become a reference point as a right back,\u201d he said.
\n\u201cIt is a target that attracts me, which I must attain.
\n\u201cI would like also to be able to say I won this World Cup.
\n\u201cTo have played in another as well.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LONDON Malo Gusto\u2019s proven big match-winning temperament will stand him in good stead as he looks to challenge Jules Kounde for the starting berth as France\u2019s right back at the World Cup. The 23-year-old was part of the Chelsea team which won the Europa Conference League and Club World Cup last season and despite the …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":98499,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98511,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98478\/revisions\/98511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}