Exclusive | Frank Leboeuf: ‘I can’t see Didier Deschamps playing Micheal Olise and Rayan Cherki together; he’ll have to make a choice.’

In a wide-ranging interview with Get French Football News, the first part can be found here, France’s World Cup winner Frank Leboeuf gave his thoughts on Les Bleus’ World Cup prospects, as well as talking about his recent reality TV experience – featuring a surprising rival.

Asked whether he thinks that in-form playmakers Michael Olise and Rayan Cherki are capable of playing together in the France team, Leboeuf was glad to leave that headache to former team-mate Didier Deschamps: “I will leave it to Deschamps to work out his formula, because the problem for him is that he is spoilt for choice – he has so many good players that it is a quite complicated call – although it’s better to be in that situation than not having enough good players. Of course, we’d like to see them all play – Cherki and Olise are gems, (Hugo) Ekitiké is extraordinary. But you’ve also got (Kylian) Mbappé, (Désiré) Doué, (Bradley) Barcola, (Ousmane) Dembélé – it’s not possible to play them all, especially as you also need defensive stability, so you need your Fofanas, your N’golo Kantés if he is recalled, players like that. And that’s the structure that Deschamps likes, too. So you only have three or four spots for all those offensive players that I named. But I can’t see Deschamps playing Olise and Cherki together; he’ll have to make a choice and find the solution. But there will certainly be a very talented squad with France among the favourites for the World Cup.”

Despite the players listed by Leboeuf, he is also mindful that France need the option of a different kind of profile up front, with a couple of options available to take over the Olivier Giroud role: “I like (Jean-Philippe) Mateta a lot and it’s fun to watch him – with his shirt tucked into his shorts he’s like a throwback to our generation! But we need players like that because they’re different to the others. We don’t need Mbappé clones. That’s why I also like Ekitiké – he also brings something different. You need to find people who can propose something different tactically, and I think that Deschamps is intelligent enough to know that – that’s why he had Mbappé with Giroud – because Giroud provided something different, a different kind of service. So I think that either Mateta or Ekitiké – maybe they won’t both be picked – have a great chance of making the World Cup squad. You can’t win the World Cup just with Mbappé because if he gets injured, then you don’t have a Plan B. But in attack, with Doué, Barcola and all the others, you have enough to give all opponents sleepless nights.”

Leoeuf highlights France’s ‘defensive issues’

However, to win a World Cup, one needs a well-balanced team, and France’s concerns lie further back than in the attacking positions: “Yes there are defensive issues. At full back, Malo Gusto is starting to make a place for himself at Chelsea – it’s phenomenal what he’s doing, interchanging with Reece James. In modern football, you need players who can work the whole flank and Gusto is becoming really impressive. But on the left side, it’s more complicated. And in central defence – last year, (Ibrahima) Konaté was excellent, there is (William) Saliba, (Dayot) Upamecano. So we have the right players, but they may not be at the same level as they were last season. They need to rediscover that form to show all their talent. But I’m not too worried – we still have players of a very high level in the France team.”

Does that make them one of the favourites then? According to Leboeuf, Les Bleus are one of four nations capable of winning. “For me, you have to put Argentina up there because they are world champions, although it could go either way – in 2018, they were a catastrophe. They won in 2022, but you got the impression that the whole thing was dedicated to Lionel Messi (and I’m pleased that a great player like him won the World Cup, even if they beat France). I feel like maybe this World Cup will be dedicated to Cristiano Ronaldo, so I’ll put Portugal up there because they have some excellent players – like Nuno Mendes, Vitinha, Joao Neves, Ruben Dias in central defence, but other players too – Bernanrdo Silva, Bruno Fernandes. And of course you can’t forget Spain.” Does that mean that England can’t win it? “England could be there too, but I always get the impression that there are problems with England and it’s already starting with “Jude Bellingham or Phil Foden?” and if it’s starting like that, then football is not coming home, there’s going to be a mess at some point!”

Leoboeuf on competing with Rami in Strictly Come Dancing

Moving on to Leboeuf’s post-football life, which, as well as punditry, also includes acting and reality TV, he showed no hard feelings towards another French World Cup winner – Adil Rami. Rami has emerged as the scourge of the Leboeuf family, recently beating Leboeuf in the French version of Strictly Come Dancing / Dancing With The Stars (Leboeuf came ninth and Rami third), as well as winning the series of The Traitors in which two of his children featured. Is that an issue? “No, I adore Adil. He’s going to be making his stage debut soon – as well as co-producing with me a play that I’ll be in. Everyone can do what they like and if he thinks my acting is good and wants to turn his hand to it, that’s great.”

As for Strictly, “Adil really has charisma and is a good-looking guy too – and is very funny. So he is good value – “a good client” for TV and radio, as we say. He’s having great fun and there is enough room for all of us, so Bienvenue, Adil! And he danced really well – I think he should have gone further and that he was better than Florent Manaudou [Olympic gold medal-winning swimmer who came second].” 

Did Leboeuf enjoy his dancing experience, though? “Yes, it was great. I made new friends. I’ve just finished filming a new Skechers ad with my dance partner. It takes up so much time – you become addicted to the show when you’re in it, you don’t think about anything else. I was so scared to mess up a dance. And lots of emotions come out – I cried a lot, Adil told me that he did too, because you’re so tired, you’re filming lots of VTs at the same time. And on one side, I hated it because of all the unknowns, but on the other, I loved it because I thought about it 24 hours a day, and it was a phenomenal experience.”

Frank Leboeuf was talking to GFFN courtesy of ToonieBet.

GFFN | Jeremy Smith