Still in search of a reference match in the French team, Marcus Thuram no longer has much time to lose and must take advantage of his time in his San Siro garden, where he shines with Inter, to silence criticism against Italy this Sunday in the League of Nations.
The contrast is striking between the Thuram Milanese and that of Blues. In Lombardy, the striker has become in the space of a year and a half one of the centerpieces of the Nerazzurri and his understanding with the Argentinian Lautaro Martinez works wonders.
The architect of the championship title gleaned at the end of the previous year with 13 goals, he has already found the net seven times in Serie A this season and offered an unexpected success to his family in Champions League against Berne (1-0), October 23. And even if he remained silent during the last five days of the championship, Thuram is an essential element of theInter.
His club coach is also full of praise for the 27-year-old whose contribution goes well beyond statistics.
“Marcus is an intelligent boy, a hard worker who improves day after day. He is a big added value for us”recently said Simone Inzaghi about an attacker who also has this particular ability to provoke penalties and red cards. A talent that he owes to his early years spent evolving on one side.
“It's because as a winger, I developed a sense of dribbling and feinting. Now, I find myself in a central situation and I can make differences with the ball than others, who have done their whole career in 9, can't do”he explained in June to the magazine France Football.
Patience until when?
The problem is that, for the moment, its qualities are not obvious in French team where the eldest son of the legendary Lilian Thuram failed to prevail. Since his debut in blue on November 11, 2020 against the Finland at the Stade de France (2-0 defeat), the former Guingamp player displays starving statistics for an attacker (2 goals in 28 caps) and has not chased away doubts about his ability to shine on the international level.
L’Euro 2024 was the perfect illustration of this. Whether in the axis or on the left, just to leave the field open to Kylian Mbappé in front, Thuram was in great difficulty technically, ending up being ejected from the starting XI in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.
“He is very effective with his club in a very particular system (with two attackers, editor’s note) and he has steps to takesaid the coach Didier Deschamps in October. When players arrive, we cannot propel them or condemn them. For offensive players, the gap is a little higher, there is the obligation to be decisive. This requires a confidence and tranquility that leads us to make the fairest gesture possible.”
“Marcus had several chances with us that didn't result in goals. But he has other qualities too, he can play in several positions. Potentially, what he is capable of doing is very interesting, but the materialize on the international level, it takes time”added the French technician.
Ibrahima Konate is of the same opinion and asks for a little patience regarding Thuram. “He is doing a lot of good at Inter. In the French team, he is certainly less effective but it will come. We are not worried about that at all. He is not missing anything at all, it will come little by little. little”said the defender of Liverpool SATURDAY. It remains to be seen until when Deschamps is ready to wait for hatching in French team of Marcus Thuram.
