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All managers like to be spoilt for choices when it comes to picking their squad. Countries like Brazil, Argentina, Germany, Spain and France have so much depth in quality that several top players have to sit out.
However, no manager has the luxury of choosing from a large talent pool like French manager Didier Deschamps.
To put things into perspective, Deschamps had to select his strikers for the World Cup from a list comprising of Antoine Griezmann, Olivier Giroud, Kylian Mbappe, Alexandre Lacazette, André Pierre-Gignac, Wissam Ben Yedder, Karim Benzema and Kevin Gameiro among others.
Now when you have so many options, several players, including ones who had a good season domestically, will have to watch the World Cup from home.
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Considering this, we picked a French XI that won't be playing in Russia at the FIFA World Cup this year and it wasn't easy because we had to leave out several players from the excluded XI. Imagine that!
Goalkeeper: Benoit Costil
France and Tottenham captain, Hugo Lloris is undoubtedly the #1 for France. Olympique Marseille’s Steve Mandanda is the second choice and the final goalkeeper berth is taken by Alphonse Areola.
That's a fair selection to be honest because Lloris is into his 30s and Alphonse Areola who looks like the future #1 for France at the moment will benefit from the experience.
Coming back to the XI, France have named Benoit Costil in the reserves for the World Cup. The 30-year old was the third goalkeeper for France at Euro 2016 but has conceded his place in the squad to PSG’s #1.
Costil moved from Rennes to fellow Ligue 1 side Bordeaux after a six-year stint last summer. Bordeaux went through a mid-season slump where they lost 10 in 14 games while picking up only 8 points and conceding 24 goals!
Despite his club’s staggering form, Costil has kept 9 clean sheets while also averaging 1.63 saves per goal conceded.
Other notable exclusions: Alban Lafont (Toulouse) and Stephane Ruffier (Saint-Étienne)
Fullbacks: Mathieu Debuchy and Lucas Digne
If there is one area of the pitch that France lack depth in, it is in the fullback positions.
The only two specialist fullbacks in the squad are Djibril Sidibé and Benjamin Mendy. Now Sidibe picked up an injury midway through April and only returned to action on May 12th as a second-half substitute.
Mendy, on the other hand, missed most of the season through a cruciate ligament injury and only recently returned to action. His last start for Manchester City was back in September 2017, in the game he picked up his injury. However, Deschamps has opted to take him to Russia ahead of PSG’s Layvin Kurzawa and Barcelona’s Lucas Digne.
There are others who can play as full-backs in the French squad though. Benjamin Pavard of VfB Stuttgart is capable of playing as a right-back and Lucas Hernandez of Atletico Madrid can play as a left-back although both players are centre-backs by trade.
As a result, former Arsenal man Mathieu Debuchy, who was France’s first choice right-back at the previous World Cup misses out. Debuchy moved to Saint-Etienne in January and quickly hit top gear. In fact, he was named the Man of the Match on his debut for the club and was named the Ligue 1 player of the month for February 2018.
Lucas Digne has spent most of his time at Barcelona as an understudy to Jordi Alba and that has made it difficult for Deschamps to pick the 24-year-old and the situation is similar for Layvin Kurzawa who has lost his place in the side to Yuri Berchiche.
Other notable exclusions: Layvin Kurzawa (PSG), Christophe Jallet (Olympique Lyon)and Jordan Amavi (Olympique de Marseille)
Centre-backs: Laurent Koscielny and Mamadou Sakho
Contrary to the fullback position, France is loaded in the heart of the defence. In fact, there are six centre-backs in the French squad and I still have to leave out the likes of Aymeric Laporte, Kurt Zouma and Dayot Upamecano from the excluded XI.
The reason I picked Laurent Koscielny and Mamadou Sakho is that these two players alternatively partnered Raphael Varane for France at the 2014 FIFA World Cup and both players miss out this time around for different reasons.
Koscielny picked up an injury in the second leg of Arsenal’s Europa League semi-final tie against eventual Champions Atletico Madrid. It was later confirmed that he ruptured his Achilles and will be out of action for the year. That being said, even if he was fit, it would have been extremely difficult for him to make the squad given his dip in form this season.
Sakho though was a player Deschamps rated very highly but he missed the Euro in 2016 after failing a drug test while playing for Liverpool. His Liverpool career also ended soon after a fall out with Jurgen Klopp. His career was in a limbo last summer as his potential suitors were limited and Liverpool’s asking price was quite high. Eventually, he signed for Crystal Palace and helped them avoid relegation.
However, he had his share of injury problems this season and hadn’t played for France since making a solitary appearance in 2016 which made it even more difficult for Deschamps to name him in the 23-man squad. He has been named in the reserve squad nevertheless.
Other notable exclusions: Aymeric Laporte (Manchester City), Kurt Zouma (Chelsea) and Dayot Upamecano (RB Leipzig)
Midfielders: Tiemoue Bakayoko, Adrien Rabiot and Dimitri Payet
Before discussing the midfielders who haven’t made the squad, let us take a moment and appreciate the quality of the midfielders France have in their World Cup squad - Blaise Matuidi, Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante, Thomas Lemar, Steven Nzonzi and Corentin Tolisso!
Tiémoué Bakayoko enjoyed a fantastic season with Monaco last year and that earned him a call-up to the senior team in March 2017. Deschamps was clearly impressed by the midfielder and called him ‘a complete midfielder’.
He has an important athletic presence, he's good at recovery, he scores decisive goals and is able to project himself.
At the time of his move to Chelsea, it was widely considered as a big coup and many expected him to form a prolific partnership with his compatriot N’Golo Kante which would also boost his chances of starting for France alongside Kante.
However, Bakayoko struggled massively since his move to Chelsea and ended up being named one of the worst acquisitions of the summer. Nevertheless, he’s still on 23 and has shown glimpses of improvement.
Adrien Rabiot was expected to be a part of the travelling squad to Russia and is perhaps the most surprising exclusion. He was a regular starter for PSG despite the competition for places in the squad. He was also a regular member of the French squad during the qualifiers and the friendlies preceding the World Cup but when the big day came, Steven Nzonzi was given the nod.
Dimitri Payet was expected to be part of the squad after a brilliant season with Marseille during which he scored 9 goals and assisted 20. However, fate played a cruel game on him as he picked up an injury in the first half of the Europa League final, a day before the announcement of the France squad.
His agony of losing the final must have increased manifold when he learned that he won’t be playing the FIFA World Cup and already 31, this might have been his last chance to play at the biggest stage in football.
Other notable exclusions: Moussa Sissoko (Spurs) and Houssem Aouar (Olympique Lyon)
Forwards: Alexandre Lacazette, Kingsley Coman and Anthony Martial
All three forwards in the list are part of the reserve squad Deschamps named but unfortunately for them, their form for their respective clubs have cost them their World Cup spots.
Lacazette, now 26, has never represented France at an international tournament. However, he does have 16 caps and 3 goals for Les Bleus.
He played 39 games for the Gunners this season after his move in the summer, scoring 17 goals and assisting 3 more. Although his numbers don’t seem that bad, he had a 13-match spell where he found the back of the net only once and he didn’t score in 9 straight games during that run.
His erratic form may be one of the reasons why he has not been included in the final squad.
Kingsley Coman and Anthony Martial were part of France’s Euro 2016 squad but the emergence of Ousmane Dembele and Kylian Mbappe, as well as their own struggles, have made it difficult for the youngsters.
Coman hasn’t played for Bayern Munich since sustaining an ankle injury at the end of February and even when fit, he has largely been used as a squad player. He made 11 substitute appearances in the Bundesliga this season which is one more than the number of starts he had.
Martial’s case is similar. He has 11 goals and 10 assists to his name across all competitions which is a very good return for a player who only made 26 starts across all competitions. In the league, he started only 18 games and made a further 12 substitute appearances.
The 22-year old is clearly talented and would be a starter elsewhere. Having missed out on the World Cup, he would surely be considering his future at Manchester United and rumours of a move to Juventus is gathering speed.
Other notable exclusions: Wissam Ben Yedder (Sevilla), Karim Benzema (Real Madrid) and Kevin Gameiro (Atletico Madrid)
