We were waiting for Adrien Rabiot despite his sidelining OM (after a fight with Jonathan Rowe who would have been “Unheard of violence”), the midfielder appears well in the group of the French team for the first two games of the Blues in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, against Ukraine, Friday September 5 in Wroclaw (Poland), and Iceland, the following Tuesday at the Parc des Princes.
Hugo Ekitike was also expected for the first time in A after its resounding beginnings with Liverpool, despite its XXL transfer to 80 million euros plus 15 as a bonus. Randal Kolo Muani did not start his season while waiting for his departure from PSG to Juventus, despite an agreement between the two clubs for a week. It was ultimately Maghnes Akliouche who was summoned to everyone's surprise!
A offensive player of great talent-Thierry Henry's first offensive joker in front of Désiré Doué and Rayan Cherki at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games-, the 23-year-old left-handed made a great 2024-2025 season at AS Monaco, but perhaps missing a little regularity. Courted by the Algerian Federation, the native of Tremblay-en-France (Seine-Saint-Denis) waited to know the position of Deschamps. Here it is fixed, it could become French international one year from the 2026 World Cup.
The offensive sector of the Blues is well supplied
“Hugo, you may see him a little more because he is in Liverpool, but we were already following him in Leverkusen, he made a good start to the season and so much the better for him. Afterwards, there is competition at the post, I am not here to accumulate them. He has a register which is essentially axial, while Maghnes is more a corridor player, who has had a good season with AS Monaco, who has good technical quality. There is a margin of progression, it can gain in efficiency, it does very interesting things ”said Deschamps about Ekitike and Akliouche.
Désiré Déré, Rayan Cherki, Michael Olise, Bradley Barcola, Ousmane Dembélé, Marcus Thuram and Captain Kylian Mbappé complete the offensive sector to challenge Ukraine, the outsider of the qualifying group, and Iceland.
