Twelve months, one cap, sixty million euros
This time last year Maxence Lacroix had never played for France. Since then he has won his first cap, gone to the 2026 World Cup and moved from Crystal Palace to Chelsea in a summer deal worth close to 60 million euros.
He walks into Clairefontaine as a different player on paper, and with an opening in front of him. William Saliba is missing from this camp. Four Nations League fixtures are lined up, so the minutes exist, but nobody is handing them over.
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A 54-year-old’s pass, and what it does to a room
Asked about the new head coach, Lacroix did not reach for flattery. He picked out a detail instead.
“We used to watch him when we were young, on TV, and now training with him is brilliant. When it’s Zidane playing you a pass in training, you have to be sure of your own quality. But anyway, he hasn’t lost anything.”
Zidane has not played at the top level since 2006. Two decades on, it is still the way he strikes a ball in a warm-up that lands with internationals who grew up watching him on a screen. That kind of thing does not stop at the edge of the pitch.
Upamecano has the shirt, three players want it
The Chelsea defender signed off with a line that told you where his own head is. “It’s new, it’s a new era, and we’ve got four matches to get some game time.”
The centre-back spot is not suddenly open, though. Dayot Upamecano came out of the World Cup as a leader and has the starting role locked down. Ibrahima Konate and Jeremy Jacquet are after the same slot behind him.
Friday against Turkey is the first read on any of it. Lacroix will find out soon enough whether he is in Zidane’s plans or waiting his turn.
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