The announcement surprised everyone on Monday. After more than a decade in blue, Antoine Griezmann has decided to turn the page on the French team. An international retreat which took all observers by surprise, but not only that. Very few people had in fact been taken into the confidence. Only his family circle knew the intentions of the vice-captain of the Blues until Monday morning.
When paying tribute to his star player, Didier Deschamps nevertheless assured that he had “a long discussion about this recently”taking care to add “maintain a relationship of trust and very frank relationships”. However, according to Damien Dégorre, journalist at
The Teamrather than ” recently “it was only a few moments before the announcement that Antoine Griezmann warned the French coach.
Didier Deschamps faced with a fait accompli
“He had no discussion with Deschamps. He just called Deschamps to tell him he was retiring. They never discussed. They never mentioned this subject. Once he had that discussion, there was his publication. His decision was already made”he said on the set of L’Equipe du Soir.
And Damien Dégorre details the thoughts of the 1998 world champion. “At the end of the Euro, he asked himself the question. He was coming out of a clearly tormented Euro. The Euro was complicated with a lot of tactical changes, he explained. After the elimination against Spain, he said to his sister “Maybe I’ll stop. » But he didn’t tell them about it all summer. He is summoned in September, he comes in September and the gathering is not particularly fulfilling for him. Three or four days later, he went to see his sister and told her, “I have made my decision. I’m going to stop. » He gives himself three or four days to think about it and he doesn’t talk about it to anyone else. Only his wife and his sister. No one else knows. »
