Paris (AFP)

He has only six caps, but a liability already so loaded that his return was like a blast. Adrien Rabiot, the sulky reservist of 2018, returns to the Blues thanks to Didier Deschamps the "pragmatic", seduced by his major performances at Juventus Turin.

Selected among the eleven reservists for the 2018 World Cup, won by France, Rabiot had refused this substitute position via an email sent to the coach. This choice did not respond to "any sporting logic", had railed the midfielder in an open letter.

Deschamps had not appreciated, he who makes team cohesion a red line not to be crossed. "It's a big mistake, he shouldn't have done that. For him and for his partners," he tackled, speaking of an act "mostly embarrassing and annoying for him".

Since then, the international career of the elegant midfielder has remained frozen in March 2018, a last tenure against Russia (3-1) in preparation for the World Cup. The fault in performance sawtooth, but also to shards having tarnished its image a little more.

There was of course the shattering break with Paris SG, his training club that he left free in the summer of 2019, boasted by supporters after being fired, placarded and financially sanctioned.

- "Personality and security" -

But the media games launched by his mother Véronique, also adviser to the player, have not appeased relations with the Federation held by President Noël Le Graët, yet willing to return the "Duke" to the selection.

"I know journalists say I had contact with Mr. Le Graët, which is not true. That's what Mr. Le Graët said. Today, quite right in my boots, I tell you: + Mr. Le Graët is a liar + ", she had thus asserted in January 2020 on the French channel L'Equipe.

This outing to the bazooka did not help the affairs of his son, who replaced for a long time and in the shadow of Blaise Matuidi at Juventus Turin.

But the balance of power reversed after confinement. Rabiot was one of the few Bianconeri elements to have breath, light legs and a sense of newfound power when the others stuck out their tongue.

"Rabiot is a player with rare qualities. After having lived through big changes, he is in the process of revealing himself," said his coach Maurizio Sarri in July. After a necessary period of adaptation, "now I see him playing with a lot of personality and security", insisted the Italian technician.

- "No aggression" -

We must believe that Deschamps, after having long justified the absence of Rabiot by questions of "competitiveness and competition", shares Sarri's opinion.

"He found a very, very good level with his club. It happened what happened, we can not go back, neither us nor him," commented the coach Thursday, four days before reunion hoped for in Clairefontaine.

Refuse to be a reservist, "I consider it a mistake on his part, I think so too. But there was no harsh words or aggression. Don't worry, if you have the slightest worry about my authority, I can take it away from you in the second, even in a tenth of a second, "Deschamps joked to the press.

"I'm not someone who likes to take radical positions. Since that period, he was still selectable," added the boss of the Blues, defining himself as "someone pragmatic".

The ball is now in Rabiot's court.

© 2020 AFP