Former French international Bixente Lizarazu sees Warren Zaire-Emery within the French team.
Saturday, on the penultimate day of the Euro qualifiers, France challenges Gibraltar in Nice. This meeting could see Warren Zaire-Emery become the youngest French international in the post-war period. At only 17 years old, he is about to be launched into the deep end.
Lizarazu has no fear for Zaire-Emery
Will Didier Deschamps dare to line him up from the start? It would expose the young prodigy, but everyone encourages him in this direction. Bixente Lizarazu, his former teammate in Blue, invited him to take this risk. “I also hope that the coach will play him tomorrow (Saturday), against Gibraltar. This is a good opportunity. Because if you want to take him to the Euro and make him feel comfortable during this tournament, Zaire-Emery must come forward with a few selections in his luggage. The more he has, the more confident he will be, the more he will be himself,” he wrote in his column for L’Equipe.
For Liza, WZE has everything to stand out and shake up the hierarchy within the French community. In the same way as he did recently at his club PSG. “In my eyes, Zaire-Emery has a card to play at this gathering. “I think Zaire-Emery can have a tremendous role as an impact player to start with. He must aim for the Euro with this objective. In any case, I see him at the Euro, not in the shoes of a starter, it’s a little early, but already as a full member of this group. With a real card to play as “incoming” from the moment he remains at the level displayed with PSG. This is already a great goal for a boy of his age.”
photo credit: Panoramic
Zaire-Emery could celebrate his first cap on Saturday evening.
“Zaire-Emery in the same category as Mbappé”
“In the middle, if we extract Antoine Griezmann and his hybrid status, three players are above: Adrien Rabiot, Aurélien Tchouaméni and Eduardo Camavinga. Behind, it’s not as strong. The impressions left by Youssouf Fofana or Boubacar Kamara are not significant enough for the moment”added the 98 world champion.
Finally, Lizarazu wanted to mention a point in common between Zaire-Emery and Kylian Mbappé, namely the absence of complexes and unshakeable self-confidence. “He falls into the category of precocious, that of Mbappé. I remember what we said when Kylian Mbappé started: you had to support him, be careful not to go too fast with him, etc. In the end, he didn’t need any time to adapt. The PSG midfielder seems to fit into this profile. That he established himself at such a young age in a club such as Paris, where it is difficult to dig your hole when you leave the training center, is exceptional.
