‘It’s not my first call-up but it feels like it’ – Florian Thauvin on France return | OneFootball

2309 days – that is how long it was between Florian Thauvin’s (32) last game for France and his most recent international call-up. It has been a long way back for Thauvin, who was a part of the World Cup-winning squad back in 2018, but who had since fallen completely off the radar.

However, after playing for Tigres in Mexico and then Udinese in Serie A, the Frenchman returned to France this summer, making a surprise move to RC Lens. He has enjoyed a strong start to life at the Bollaert, netting two goals in his opening seven games for the club.

His form at club level saw calls for him to be reintegrated into the France set-up. And whilst his name was not read out by Didier Deschamps when the squad was initially announced, an injury to Paris Saint-Germain’s Bradley Barcola handed him an unlikely return.

“At one point, I was so far away [from the national team] that you had to be realistic about the situation, but honestly, when you’re a football player, you always have it in the corner of your mind, especially when you have been involved at one point,” he told France’s social channels upon his arrival at Clairefontaine on Monday.

He added, “It’s true that, bizarrely, it isn’t my first call-up, but it feels like it because I have come through really difficult moments since, so it feels a bit as if it was my first call-up.”

GFFN | Luke Entwistle