Antoine Griezmann is leaving, what future for the Blues?

Antoine Griezmann was the soul of the Blues. A selfless player loved by supporters. As with Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini or Zinedine Zidane before him, it will be very difficult to replace a player of such caliber. Antoine Griezmann, best passer in the history of the Blues, decided to retire internationally on Monday and he leaves a big void behind him. The French team must reinvent itself behind its coach Didier Deschamps.

“It’s now a new French team” around Kylian Mbappé, believes Alain Giresse

If the tactician does not start from a clean sheet, he will no longer have at his disposal a player of Griezmann’s caliber, as good a passer, scorer, easy to get along with and adored by the fans. With the successive departures of Hugo Lloris, Olivier Giroud and Raphaël Varane, the task will be difficult, warns Alain Giresse, Europe 1 consultant. “Kylian Mbappé is still there, he is the determining player. Now it’s difficult , it’s going to settle down, we can’t say that these players who are no longer there, we’re going to replace them and it’s just a change of players, we’re not there yet,” says the former French international. .

For Alain Giresse, however, it will take time to rebuild the selection: “This team will have to be put in place. We must rely on a collective, it’s a different generation, a new French team .” A new generation is emerging around Aurélien Tchouaméni and Eduardo Camavinga in midfield. Parisian Warren Zaire-Emery and Olympic vice-champions Manu Koné and Mickael Olise are also starting to make their mark, and captain Kylian Mbappé is hungry for titles and records.

Jacques Vendroux, great voice of Europe 1, is not surprised by the international retirement of Antoine Griezmann. “I’m not surprised by his announcement. It’s great class, he chose his moment. When you look at the history of football, an international stays ten years at the highest level. There was the Platini period , Giresse, Battiston and the others, the Barthez period, Blanc, Zidane and Deschamps, the Lloris period, Giroud and Griezmann, so somewhere, it’s logical”, he listed in the show Pascal Praud and you. “Great players don’t want to spend a year too long. Griezmann is 33 years old, he wants to devote himself to Atletico Madrid and that is to his credit,” he added.

“Current players are capable of taking over”, for Jacques Vendroux

The Europe 1 journalist, who has covered 15 football World Cups, is not worried about the future of the Blues: “Didier Deschamps is aware, he too has ended his career. The coach has already everything planned, it’s a transitional season His goal is to prepare for the next World Cup in Canada, the United States and Mexico.” Jacques Vendroux wants to believe in a bright future for the Blues: “Very honestly, the players who make up the France team, currently, with a little time, are entirely capable of making us forget Griezmann, Lloris and others.”

At his disposal, Didier Deschamps has a formidable reservoir of young people with Bradley Barcola and Désiré Doué in particular. The coach now has less than two years to find the right formula before the 2026 World Cup.