Olympique de Marseille manager Marcelo Bielsa has explained his decision not to include young defender Doria in his recent team selections.
The highly rated centre-back, just 19, is yet to make his debut for the French outfit after his September move to L’OM from his only previous club, Botafogo.
After racking up 60 league appearances before his 20th birthday for the Fogão, Doria would’ve been hoping to have made more of an impact at Marseille, but an impressive start to the season and strong competition in his position have seen his opportunities quickly become almost non-existent.
This was recognised by head-coach Bielsa, who was keen to stress the abilities of his other defenders when he spoke to media at a press conference on Tuesday, as reported by maxifoot.fr:
“The decisions are made in context, and I think for Wednesday’s game, the suitable replacement for Morel is Nkoulou, and an adequate replacement for Nkoulou is Fanni.”
After also mentioning French defender Stéphane Sparagna, he continued:
“Of these three options for each position, I think the best pair will be Fanni and Nkoulou, and I have not considered Sparagna or Doria.”
