After the international retirement of Hugo Lloris, who will be the new captain of the Blues?

Europe 1 with AFP 11:50 p.m., January 10, 2023

It's the end of an era.

The goalkeeper and captain of the France team Hugo Lloris announced, Monday, January 9, his international retirement.

The 2018 world champion, 36, wants to leave his place in the tricolor cages.

The question of his succession to the captaincy of the Blues but also of his position as goalkeeper arose in the program

.

Logic would dictate that Mike Maignan take on the role of titular goalkeeper with the Blues.

Successor to Gianluigi Donnarumma at AC Milan, where he immediately imposed himself and gleaned a championship title from 2022, summoned for Euro 2021 by Didier Deschamps, the former Lille resident (2015-2021) is a figure of logical recourse after the departure of Lloris.

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Maignan for the next generation?

The one who has five caps in the France team and honored the first on October 7, 2020, replacing Steve Mandanda at halftime against Ukraine in a friendly (7-1), undoubtedly embodies the next generation of goalkeepers.

Strong on his line, lively in his outings and a true specialist in penalties, a shortcoming of all his illustrious predecessors in blue, Maignan, 27 years old and passed through all the youth selections, is a complete goalkeeper.

The only problem and not the least: his physical fragility.

It was a calf injury that deprived him of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

His return to competition is still not relevant, as AC Milan coach Stefano Pioli explained in early January.

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Few options

Under these conditions, it is possible that Deschamps will be forced to start the qualifying campaign for Euro 2024 (March 24 against the Netherlands, March 27 in Ireland) with veteran Steve Mandanda (37), unless Rennais also imitates Lloris by bidding farewell to the Blues.

Because behind, the options are not very numerous.

Alphonse Areola, 3rd goalkeeper during the 2018 world title and again present in Qatar, never gave a lot of guarantees to hope to become N.1 immediately.

The Nantais Alban Lafont (23 years old) and the Lensois Brice Samba (28 years old) can be solutions but have no international experience, just like the goalkeeper of Espoirs and Leeds, Illan Meslier (22 years old), called to play the European Championship in his age category next summer (June 21-July 8 in Romania and Georgia).

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The captain: a trio stands out

Difficult to replace at short notice a leader of the caliber of Lloris, holder of the record of selections (145) and the number of matches played as captain (121 times).

A name naturally comes up first, that of vice-captain Raphaël Varane.

The Manchester United defender certainly had a mixed World Cup on an individual level, between late recovery after a thigh injury just before the World Cup and a virus contracted before the final.

Despite the emergence of the Konaté-Upamecano duo at the center, Varane is far from finished given his age (29) and his international experience remains very valuable in a fairly young group.

Antoine Griezmann (31) is another credible candidate, from the top of his 117 caps.

The Atletico Madrid striker has always had an innate sense of teamwork, as demonstrated by his new, more remote role during the World Cup.

But he is more of a leader on the pitch than in the locker room and only started one match arm in arm, at the end of September in Copenhagen (2-0 defeat).

A much younger player could also come out of Deschamps' hat, namely Kylian Mbappé.

The impact of the PSG striker and his aura make you forget his 24 years.

The top scorer of the World Cup (8 goals), world champion in 2018, has taken on such a dimension that it would not be far-fetched to see him become the captain of a team of which he has undoubtedly become the boss, and this for several years.