The coach of the France team Didier Deschamps will announce, this Thursday at 2 p.m., the 23 players selected for the two preparatory matches for Euro 2024 (June 14-July 14) against Germany in Lyon, Saturday March 23 and Chile in Marseille, three days later. A list which should not contain any big surprises.
The main question concerns the presence or not of Bradley Barcola. The 21-year-old Parisian winger, replacing at the kick-off of the Coupe de France quarter-final this Wednesday against Nice, caught the eye of the French staff. Enough to know your big first? Wednesday evening, it wasn’t really the trend. Even if he was able to be decisive in important matches, such as during the round of 16 first leg of the Champions League against Real Sociedad (1 goal), the former Lyonnais has undoubtedly been slowing down too much since the second half. in February, to swell the contingent of Parisians in the selection.
In the absence of Kingsley Coman, who suffered a ligament problem at the end of January, “DD” does not have many fallback solutions. There is of course Moussa Diaby, but he still lost playing time at Aston Villa. As for Christopher Nkunku, he has a series of physical problems and is not available. The rest of the attack will be made up of Kylian Mbappé, Olivier Giroud, Ousmane Dembélé, Marcus Thuram and Randal Kolo Muani. The latter maintains the confidence of the French staff despite more difficult weeks at PSG. The striker is highly appreciated by the coach who is counting on him for the next games.
Rabiot will appear on the list
The medical profession was also reassured about Antoine Griezmann’s fitness. The Madrilenian, who had suffered from ankle pain since the Champions League round of 16 first leg against Inter Milan on February 20, returned for the return match this Wednesday evening. He even scored against the Lombards his first goal since January 18. Excellent news for the Blues.
Adrien Rabiot, who dislocated his big toe in a collision during Juventus’ 3-2 victory over Frosinone on February 25, has not yet returned to action with his team, but will be included in the list. The staff is thus giving itself an additional period of time to ensure, then, of his presence on Sunday in the championship against Genoa, knowing that the former Parisian is supposed to resume with the Piedmontese group, from this Thursday, of after consistent sources.
If he were to give up further, Jordan Veretout and Mattéo Guendouzi would then be in the balance to replace him numerically. Suffering with Nice, Khéphren Thuram is rather expected in U23. We will find the regulars Youssouf Fofana, Eduardo Camavinga and Aurélien Tchouaméni who both had to miss out due to injury in November.
Behind, Saliba rather than Todibo
The young Parisian crack Warren Zaire-Emery will also be there, after having had a difficult first selection against Gibraltar (14-0), on November 18, by scoring his first goal in Blue before getting injured. He continues to impress with Paris and is expected to become more and more important within the selection.
In defense, the presence of Jonathan Clauss is not in doubt. Jostled by the management of OM at the end of the winter transfer window, the 31-year-old full-back performed well in the last two meetings and sees his place maintained on the right, in the same way as Jules Koundé.
On the left, Ferland Mendy continues to move on at Real Madrid, but the tendency is to maintain competition between the Hernandez brothers, Lucas being able to evolve in the axis where William Saliba should accompany Benjamin Pavard, Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konaté, even if a very slight doubt remains for the latter absent against Manchester City in the Premier League on Sunday. The Arsenal defender would be preferred to Jean-Clair Todibo and Axel Disasi even if the latter, convincing with Chelsea, has arguments to put forward. As for the three goalkeepers, there will be no surprises with the call-ups of Mike Maignan, Brice Samba and Alphonse Areola.
