Alassane Plea says his call-up to the France squad shows he “made the right choice” in joining Borussia Mönchengladbach last summer.
Plea had a wealth of options when he decided to leave French club Nice where he had shone alongside Mario Balotelli and under the guidance of Lucien Favre.
When the Swiss coach was appointed Borussia Dortmund’s new boss, it was suggested Plea could follow him to the Signal Iduna Park.
Watch: Plea picks up a first Bundesliga hat-trick in Bremen
The ‘other’ Borussia eventually won the race to sign the French forward, who has exploded onto the Bundesliga scene with eight goals in his first 11 matches, including a Matchday 11 hat-trick at Werder Bremen.
Obvious choice
Though Plea, who won his one and only U21 cap in March 2014, missed out on France’s original squad for this month’s international games, he was the obvious choice for coach Didier Deschamps when Manchester United’s Anthony Martial and Arsenal’s Alexandre Lacazette had to withdraw through injury.
“I’m very happy, I feel good in Germany. This call-up makes me very happy. It shows I’m on the right track, that I made the right choice,” said Plea, who could make his first senior international appearance in the Nations League encounter with the Netherlands in Rotterdam on Friday or in the friendly with Uruguay in Paris next Tuesday.
“It was hard at the start, but my teammates have put me in the best possible conditions. It’s a league I like. In the Bundesliga, the matches are very open, each team wants to score all the time. I really enjoy myself.”
That is clear from Plea’s start to life with the Foals. Only Eintracht Frankfurt’s Luka Jovic has found the net more times as the French forward’s goals have fuelled Gladbach’s surge to second place in the Bundesliga table.
Tolisso teammate
Plea came through the ranks at Lyon alongside Bayern Munich midfielder Corentin Tolisso, and admitted the prospect of emulating his World Cup-winning former youth academy teammate by playing at the highest level for his country had spurred him on.
“I knew the coach was watching my performances,” explained the 25-year-old. “That gave me the motivation to keep working, and perform well in matches and make a difference on the pitch. I knew, sooner or later, I’d get called up if I was good.”
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