'Dembele isn't Mbappe or Neymar, but he can become Giroud's successor' - Lyon star's youth coach tips him to for big future

Lyon star Moussa Dembele's youth coach believes that the forward has what it takes to succeed Olivier Giroud in the France national team. 

Dembele started Saturday's Champions League quarter-final against Manchester City from the bench, but made a game-changing contribution as a substitute by scoring twice in a shock 3-1 win. 

Those two goals came after a Ligue 1 campaign in which the 24-year-old netted 16 times and attracted transfer interest from some of Europe's biggest clubs. 

Despite his progression, Dembele has yet to debut for France's senior side after representing Les Bleus at various youth levels.

Laurent Bonadei, who coached Dembele while he was a youth star at Paris-Saint Germain, believes that the striker can be a perfect compliment for current PSG forward Kylian Mbappe at international level.

"Moussa has always been a complete player," Bonadei told Goal and SPOX.

"He's not a player who will dribble three players in a phone booth, like Mbappe or Neymar, but he can become Giroud's successor in the French team, because he doesn't hesitate to go into duels and work for the collective."

Bonadei has been impressed by Dembele's career development, which had seen him move to Fulham in 2012 and then on to Celtic in 2016 before returning to his native France with Lyon in 2018.

"He's someone who has great self-confidence," Bonadei continued. "His choice to go to Celtic after Fulham was a good one. He has always favored playing time for his development.

"He discovered a new championship, he played in the Champions League, he reached [high] levels. And to return to the French championship was also ambitious. He arrived at a team like Lyon where the competition is hard, with [Memphis] Depay, [Karl] Toko Ekambi or Nabil Fekir before."

Dembele was surely frustrated to miss out on Rudi Garcia's line-up against Juventus and Man City, but Bonadei was impressed by the forward's professionalism and reaction to adversity.

"He didn't start against Juve," Bonadei said, "against Manchester City, he didn't start either. It's good that he scored two goals. It will boost [his confidence].

"When you're a striker like him, you want to score goals and win all matches. He was very professional, without qualms. He surely also benefited from the fatigue of his opponents."

Dembele will look to make a similar impact in Wednesday's semi-final against German powerhouse Bayern Munich.