Jaouen Hadjam and Fares Chaïbi follow Houssem Aouar in choosing Algeria

According to Daily Mercato, Les Bleus have lost out on not one but three players to the Algeria national team. There are many reasons a player may choose one country or another, but supporters of the French national team may find these three departures particularly difficult.

On top of the loss of Houssem Aouar, Jaouen Hadjam, 19-year-old former Paris FC academy product, and  Nantes left-back has also reportedly chosen to represent Algeria. This comes only a short time after finding out 18-year-old Nice attacking midfielder, Badredine Bouanani, opted to play for Algeria after playing for France’s U16, U18, and U19 teams in the tri-color shirt. 

The last and possibly most difficult pill to swallow is the loss of Toulouse attacking midfielder, Farès Chaïbi. He was expected to make the move to his new national team for some time now, but the 20-year-old was pre-selected by Les Bleus so there was a chance he may have continued his journey with France. However,  he confirmed his decision to play for Algeria on his Instagram account. In his post, he expressed his pride in joining the Algerian team and thanked the French Football Federation for their interest. In the end, he explained, “This choice comes straight from the heart.” 

France and Ligue 1 have long been an incubator for national team talent. Outside of these players, France is home to many dual-nationality players who proudly fill the rosters of other countries as we saw in the last World Cup with teams like Morocco, Senegal, Cameroon, and Tunisia. 

GFFN | Tony DesRois