Rennes (AFP)

Unknown until then, the side Adrien Truffert (19) has made a name for himself in Rennes, where his enthusiasm could help the Breton team to bounce back on Sunday against Saint-Etienne (3:00 p.m.) in Ligue 1 ... and propel it at Euro Espoirs in the spring or at the Olympic Games this summer.

The rise was meteoric: his first professional contract signed in May 2020, he joined the preparation of the pro group in July.

And in August, we only saw him during the preparation matches.

Even if he was only promised a role of understudy, he was thrown into the deep end on September 19, when Faitout Maouassa was injured.

Monaco then led 1-0: a center millimeter for the head of Steven Nzonzi and an unstoppable strike in the 91st, and here is the newbie transformed into the man of the match.

"I couldn't have asked for better," he recalled in an interview with Ouest-France in early February.

"He was ultra decisive," greeted his trainer Julien Stéphan that evening.

"He has this versatility to be able to play in the entire left lane but I like him much lower. When you have such a volume of races and you start from lower, you are able to repeat them."

- "A good little one" -

The goalkeeper Romain Salin was delighted for him: "+ La Truff +, he's a good kid, a little introverted. You feel he has received a great education. He is very polite, it is a very positive element in a group".

With the crack Eduardo Camavinga, but also Brandon Soppy, revealed in broad daylight a few weeks earlier, or Yann Gboho and Sacha Boey, the rising generation from the training center "is the soul of the group", had greeted Salin.

"They have so much generosity, smile and energy, that we must put ourselves at their disposal so that they make us dream".

Indeed, Truffert did not stop there and proved more solid than the Brazilian Dalbert, recruited two weeks later to compensate for the unavailability of Maouassa.

In October, here he is in the Champions League.

He remains marked by his entry against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge, when Dalbert was sent off.

He still has not recovered: "And there I find myself facing players that I watched on TV three years ago!".

- "Play faster" -

In November, he celebrated his first two selections for the France Espoirs team, automatically titular against Liechtenstein (5-0) then against Switzerland (3-1).

Bodes well for the Euro Espoirs spread over two windows in the spring (24-31 March then 31 May-6 June) or the Olympics this summer (23 July-8 August).

With now 16 matches in L1 and five in C1 on the clock, he already has a great experience, even if all his performances were not as magical as the first.

"It is clear that we must always fight," he told Ouest-France, acknowledging that he still lacked physical density.

"I try to compensate by my placement, by my anticipation, with my game without the ball, to play faster, to be faster".

And by a lot of bodybuilding.

In addition to his left paw, his daring and his racing volume, he also displays great versatility: long eccentric midfield, he descended lower in his lane on his arrival in Rennes.

But when Maouassa returned in December, Stéphan aligned him several times with some success as the left winger.

Born in Belgium, where his father was an expatriate, he grew up in Chartres and is now linked to Rennes until 2023. In no hurry to leave: he first wants to "relive Europe with Rennes".

And then his little brother Florian will make his comeback this year at the training center.

© 2021 AFP