France has just won the World Cup, and that pleases me in more ways than one.
First, I thought from before the tournament started that they would and I am glad to have been right, although I’d feel a lot better about it had I stuck some cash on the outcome.
I like the French and the way they play football.
They put a high premium on attacking.
I’ve been impressed by their domestic teams of late as well; I thought Monaco were exceptional in the Champions League a couple of seasons back, and although PSG are notorious spenders of money it is a pleasure to watch them play when they are on their game.
French football is in a real renaissance period just now; national teams go through cycles where they just produce a conveyer belt of quality and I realised about a year ago that the French were in such a spell just now. Germany, Italy, Spain … all have done the same in years gone by.
Belgium are up there at the moment.
But France’s development is especially interesting. Mbappe, it could be argued, is the outrider of the next great national football squad in Europe, and it just so happens that three of its brightest stars are plying their trade at Celtic Park.
That is no coincidence, and you’re mad if you think it is. It’s no accident either.
Our scouting networks are scouring the Earth at the moment, looking for top tier capable players. Do you really think it’s just happenstance that three of the best we’ve picked out are from one particular country, and the one that just won a World Cup?
That is planning. That is forward thinking. That is spotting the talent where the talent is best and getting in there early doors and snapping them up.
Dembele was already on the cusp of being a top talent, and we swooped in there and grabbed him.
Edouard had already won the 2015 Under 17 Championship with France, in a competition where he won the top goal-scorer and best player awards. He scored a hat-trick in the final, against the Germans. He is clearly a huge star, and you can see it in his performances already.
But the real find might well prove to be Olivier Ntcham, who played 41 games for Genoa before Man City sold him to Celtic. He has represented France at every youth level, all the way up to their Under 21’s. I’m told that Manchester City manager Pepe Guardiola was furious when he discovered that the club had allowed Ntcham to leave before he had properly evaluated him, and that it led to a wholescale reform of their youth department and the way they let players go.
He is rated as a phenomenal prospect, and he’s just getting started at our club. He has already played 12 times for the French Under 21 team since making his debut for them in 2017, in a team that included Mbappe, Kingslay Corman of Bayern Munich and Dembele of Barcelona.
In fact, their current crop of young players – of which our trio are a part – include some footballers with every bit as much potential as those three, like Maxime Lopez of Marseille who is compared to a young Nasri; Lucas Tousart, who already has over 80 games in midfield for Lyon; central defender Mouctar Diakhaby, who just signed for Valencia and a group of others who the coaches have a great deal of confidence in that they can go all the way.
This is a market we’re getting to know and should be scouting further. The French national team just proved that theirs is the number one football nation on the planet and few clubs have the kind of advantage we have in being able to call on three of their best up and coming players. It would do no harm if we doubled down and brought in a few more.
Celtic’s French Connection is going to take us a long way.