Thauvin blazes with Lens and revives his France candidacy at 33

Florian Thauvin is enjoying an exceptional start to the season with RC Lens, to the point of seriously reviving his candidacy for the France squad. At 33, the 2018 World Cup winner has recorded 4 goals and 8 assists in just 8 Ligue 1 matches, establishing himself as the leader of the Sang et Or.

Following Lens’s victory over Paris FC, the northern captain addressed his ambitions with the national team with calculated caution: “As a competitor, my objective is to go there, but it’s not up to me to demand it. I have to give myself every chance on my side. Today, I’m demonstrating every weekend that I’m performing, but then we trust our legend, our manager.” A message directly aimed at Zinedine Zidane.

Christophe Dugarry, close to the manager, struck an optimistic tone. The former France striker sees in the recent management of the national squad an encouraging signal for Thauvin: “It smells good anyway, even if I don’t have any information. When you see that at the last gathering Zizou was able to reward a player like Lepaul, why not reward Thauvin too… It seems like Zizou is in this logic of rewarding players who are in form and have an irreproachable mindset.”

But the return of the former Marseille player is far from assured. Clément Grenier acknowledges that Thauvin “deserves to wear the blue shirt again,” while pointing to a double obstacle. Age first: “At 33, he does not represent the future of the France team.” Competition next, particularly dense in his position. Michael Olise, Maghnes Akliouche, Rayan Cherki, Ousmane Dembélé, Kylian Mbappé and Désiré Doué already occupy France’s attacking sector with little apparent space.

Grenier clarifies the issue: “In his register there is Olise, who is somewhat in his profile as a left-footer capable of playing on the right and cutting in on his left foot, Maghnes Akliouche as well, Rayan Cherki too even if he’s more of a number 10.” Thauvin’s form is indisputable; the available space, much less so.