“Thierry Henry, coach of the French Espoirs team, has decided to terminate his contract which ran until June 2025, for reasons that are personal to him. At the end of an exceptional campaign during the Olympic Games, punctuated by a silver medal, Thierry Henry spoke with Philippe Diallo, the president of the FFF, to inform him of his decision.”we could read in a press release from the FFF published earlier this week.
A surprising departure, just one year after his appointment, and a few days after France’s defeat in the Olympic Games final against Spain. An internal surprise, officially justified by the FFF for “personal reasons“, but who would have other reasons. The former legendary scorer of the Blues would thus consider that it would be impossible to go higher than this silver medal. The legend of the Gunners therefore considered that he could not do better and that he had therefore had his time.
A man of experience
Contrary to what may have been said, he does not necessarily have the ambition to find work on the benches quickly, and has not received an offer. Obviously, the FFF must find him a replacement. And according to France Infoit is indeed Gérald Baticle who will take over the operations. His name had already come out as a candidate, but it is now confirmed, and his nomination should be made official during the FFF executive committee on Friday.
He was Thierry Henry’s assistant, and therefore knows the current generation perfectly. At 54 years old, he already has a great deal of experience with coaching positions at Angers between 2021 and the end of 2022, as well as at Brest between 2008 and 2009, and with the U19s of OL and Auxerre. But he is best known for having been assistant at OL for 10 seasons, under the orders of Bruno Genesio, Rémi Garde and Rudi Garcia among others. A nice challenge will therefore be offered to him with a Euro Espoirs next summer.
