Thauvin pre-summoned, why it means almost nothing

The information may come as a surprise. Could Florian Thauvin, who is shining in the Italian championship after two years in Mexico, be on the doorstep of the French team again? As we learned on Monday, the former OM star, world champion in 2018, has been pre-summoned by Didier Deschamps for the October gathering. But this pre-list, which Deschamps must systematically establish before a gathering, does not allow us to draw conclusions about the next group of the Blues.

Nearly 50 players receive a pre-call-up to the French team before each gathering. This is mainly an administrative formality for the clubs, who are thus warned quite early that some of their players could be called up during the international break. Given that there will be twenty-three of them actually called up, there will be more disappointed than happy ones.

“It’s all hot air” for Mollo, former pre-summoned to the Blues

Some players have been regularly pre-summoned without ever joining the French team squad, such as Franck Tabanou, Arnaud Souquet, Benjamin Bourigeaud or Yohan Mollo. “The pre-selection of 50 is just hot air”launched the former attacking midfielder of Saint-Étienne and Nancy in the columns of JDD in 2015. It is still a positive signal, informing the player that he is being monitored by the Blues staff and suggesting that his performances are good.

It also suits the agents a lot, delighted to be able to leak the information in order to promote their client. A godsend in the case of Thauvin, away from the Blues since his last selection in June 2019. The 31-year-old winger, who had disappeared from the radar for a while for the general public in France, wears the captain’s armband at Udinese, 3^e Serie A, where he is unanimous. Didier Deschamps will give his next list on Thursday, October 3, in view of the Nations League matches against Israel (October 10) and Belgium (October 14).