Henry faced rejections for the Olympic games France's team

Being the manager of a U21 team is not something hard, especially if you are in charge of such a talented-packed team like France. But, when you are playing as a host in the Olympic games, you are already crowned as champion in the minds of the French fans, and that is a heavy burden. And when the rules are permitting to call three players over 23 years old, names like Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann first come to mind. With them, the hosts are certain to win the gold medal. But the clubs are the ones who decide on the matter, and it is clear that they don’t want to risk their best players. So, the U21 manager Thierry Henry, had to adapt.

Former Arsenal captain announced a provisional list of players and admitted (without revealing names) that he faced a huge number of rejections. He included a couple of surprise names like Alexandre Lacazette, or PSG duo Warren Zaïre-Emery and Bradley Barcola. The latter two were expected if we look at the years, but, they are also invited to participate in the EURO squad.

“The last time I faced so many rejections was in school. The players you don’t see are because their clubs said ‘no’. There’s no discussion: you come, you ask, they say ‘no’, and you leave. The clubs are within their rights. My stance hasn’t changed. We knew we would face this situation. I expected it. I would have been more surprised if it were the other way around” he acknowledged.

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However, Henry will not give up, either on Mbappe or on other over 23 players in the team.  

“You never give up hope. We don’t know what will happen, but I must provide a fairly realistic list without making assumptions. The list can evolve, but we need to give the players time to prepare. You don’t close the door on anyone. There will be three over 23 players, but I couldn’t say more. It’s not easy to ask clubs, who are within their rights” he said.

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France will be in Group A in the Olympics and face the United States at Marseille’s Stade Vélodrome (24th July), before heading to Nice to face Guinea (27th July), and then back to the Vélodrome to face New Zealand (30th July).

France Olympics preliminary squad:

Goalkeepers: Lucas Chevalier, Obed Nkambadio, Guillaume Restes, Robin Risser

Defenders: Bafodé Diakité, Mazime Esteve, Bradley Locko, Castello Lukeba, Kiliann Sildillia, Adrien Truffert, Leny Yoro

Midfielders: Maghnes Akliouche, Joris Chotard, Desiré Doué, Manu Koné, Enzo Millot, Khephran Thuram, Lesley Ugochukwu, Warren Zaïre-Emery

Attackers: Bradley Barcola, Arnaud Kalimuendo, Alexandre Lacazette, Jean-Philippe Mateta, Michael Olise, Mathys Tel