Twenty-one goals last season, and still no cap
Esteban Lepaul has never played for France. Nine days from now that could change. RMC Sport reports the Stade Rennais striker is in Zinedine Zidane’s preliminary squad ahead of the coach’s first official list on Friday 18 September.
He won the Ligue 1 golden boot last season with 21 goals. The summer brought no drop-off either: 6 in 4 friendlies, then 3 in his opening three league games.
He is 26. Lyon academy, then a career that stalled and restarted more than once before Roazhon Park. Zero senior caps.
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Four games in 11 days to open the Zidane era
Turkey away on 25 September. Belgium in Brussels on 28 September. Italy at the Stade de France on 2 October, Zidane’s first home fixture. Belgium again in Saint-Denis on 5 October.
Four Nations League matches against serious opposition inside a week and a half. A striker who is scoring can turn that kind of run into a career.
Preliminary means preliminary
The wording matters here. A preliminary list is a watching brief, a wider pool the staff trim before the real squad goes out. Lepaul has to survive the cut on 18 September.
Zidane looking at an uncapped 26-year-old on club form alone still tells you something about how he intends to pick teams. Rennes will take it either way, having held on to their scorer through the window and watched him climb onto the national radar three games into the season.
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