Zinedine Zidane at the head of the French team is definitely an old sea serpent. There has been much talk about it for several years but the project has still not materialized.
A French technician has just added another layer by reporting “lobbying” carried out by certain parties with the aim of pushing the current coach Didier Deschamps towards the door and making room for the Franco-Algerian.
If Zidane has remained without a club since the end of his second stint at Real Madrid in 2021, it is said to be to remain available in the event that the place as coach of the Blues becomes available. The 1998 world champion has had no shortage of requests from Europe’s biggest clubs over the past three years, but he has declined them all.
Zinedine Zidane has the build to coach the France team. World and European champion with selection as a player and three European champions in a row as coach of Real Madrid, adored by the French, it is difficult to find a better profile.
But it turns out that French football officials have no valid reason to thank Didier Deschamps who has an impressive record with a World Cup won (2018) and two finals lost, one in the World Cup (2022) and one other at the Euro (2016).
But the one who has held the technical helm of the Blues for 12 long years is very criticized. This was particularly the case at the end of the last Euro 2024 played in Germany where France was knocked out in the semi-finals by Spain.
For observers, the Blues are no longer conquerors and their game is ordinary. The same grievances were expressed during the last matches played in the Nations League.
“When we win, it’s the opponent who is weak and when we lose, we are rubbish,” regretted Deschamps after his team’s victory against Israel (1-4), Thursday October 10.
Does Zidane need lobbying to take the French team?
For Pascal Dupraz, who has coached numerous Ligue 1 clubs, all these criticisms are an expression of the desire of some to see Zidane finally take the French team.
“Disenchantment with Deschamps is simply lobbying. Because everyone dreams, me first and foremost, that Zidane is the coach of the France team. The disenchantment starts from there,” he said this Sunday, October 13 on RMC.
Even if he considers himself among those who want to see Zidane at the technical helm of the Blues, Dupraz does not share the criticism of the team’s play that some find “boring”.
“The boring French team? But often winning, whatever people say,” he says, emphasizing that modern football “is a lot of strategy”. “It must be said that we are lobbying,” he insists, without naming the parties who would carry out this lobbying.
For him, Didier Deschamps “does his job very well” and “has not lost” control over his team.
Zinedine Zidane is in high demand by the public, certain analysts and journalists and even politicians.
At the end of Euro 2024 and after the renewal of Deschamps until the 2026 World Cup, a wide campaign was launched in July on social networks, calling for Zidane as a savior.
The journalist Daniel Riolo had accused the coach Didier Deschamps of clinging to his position just to block the arrival of Zizou. “He really doesn’t want Zidane to take the France team because he knows that all the people want that,” he accused.
“I can’t wait for Zidane to get the French football team back,” MP Sébastien Delogu of La France Insoumise (LFI) had hoped in a tweet.
