A major staff review. For the two preparation matches for the Euro Espoirs (from June 11 to 28) against Italy, Friday (at 4:15 p.m.) and next Tuesday against Germany (6:15 p.m.) in Valenciennes, Gérald Baticle had to draw from the reservoir of the federation to deal with a large number of injuries. On Tuesday, November 12 alone, Bruno Genesio’s former assistant in Lyon had to notice the withdrawals of five players and not the least.
Malo Gusto left the same morning for Chelsea, when Dilane Bakwa, Maghnes Akliouche, Hugo Ekitike who Baticle wants to install at the forefront of his attack and Enzo Millot, the captain, gave up at the end of the afternoon. Without forgetting Thierno Barry, happy to be called up the previous week, but ultimately withdrew after a shoulder injury.
Even before the rally, the Bleuets staff already knew they would have to do without Maxime Esteves, Tanguy Kouassi or Castello Lukeba and had big doubts about the presence of Quentin Merlin who ultimately remained with OM. In the end, new faces emerged in the list, with the selection of the amazing Ayyoub Bouaddi, 17 years old and appearing particularly to his advantage in the Champions League against Real Madrid (1-0, October 2) and Juventus Turin (1-1, November 5).
The coach hopes to count on Doué at the Euro
Baticle also called up other neophytes with Etienne Kinkoué (Le Havre), Chrislain Mawissa (Monaco), Nathan Zeze (Nantes) and Ange-Yoann Bony, author of an interesting start to the season in Serie A with Parma (4 goals and 1 assist in the league).
“Ayyoub and others are joining the group and we will be very present in the analysis for March and June with a view to the competition. It’s a strong message, a way of telling them that it’s open, explained the coach on Tuesday in Clairefontaine. I expect from this gathering a lot of answers, information to make the right choices, to be precise and to have a high quality group in June. So I have two gatherings to experiment, observe and analyze the players, the men, the complementarity of each other and different playing patterns.”
For these two matches, the former Angers coach also decided to call up Désiré Doué in attack, even though he is likely to be unavailable for the Euros Espoirs since he will be affected by the Club World Cup with PSG scheduled from June 15 to July 13 in the United States. This observation will also apply to Malo Gusto with Chelsea. “As long as it’s not official, I won’t take it into account,” Baticle said. Here again, he is waiting for answers.
The probable composition of the French team is: Restes – Matsima, Youté Magassa – Sildilla Agoumé Bouaddi Mawissa – Doué, Cherki, Kalimuendo.
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