According to Djibril Cissé, Esteban Lepaul is the big absentee of the five nominated for the Trophy for the best player in Ligue 1 this season. But the former AJ Auxerre prodigy would also like to see the current top scorer in the French championship (18 goals, ahead of Joaquin Panichelli and Mason Greenwood) to be called up by Didier Deschamps for the 2026 World Cup!
“He can go to the French team. I often compare with what I experienced, when I was called up, there was Nico Anelka, Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet, Youri Djorkaeff, Dugarry, I finished top scorer in France (22 goals in 1997-1998, editor’s note)
and they took me (for the 2002 World Cup, editor’s note),” says Cissé on Ligue 1+, he was the French international from 2002 to 2011 (41 caps, 9 goals).
Esteban Lepaul is already 26 years old. Seeing him land with the Blues for the World Cup would be the culmination of a pretty incredible journey. In 2024, the center forward trained at OL was still playing in National, at Epinal, before being recruited by Angers SCO and having a good 2024-2025 season (9 goals in Ligue 1, 4 in the Coupe de France). Stade Rennais recruited him for 13.5 million euros last summer and found their new goal hunter.
Djibril Cissé knew Esteban Lepaul’s father
And to “Djib” to add: “He is top scorer in Ligue 1, he would definitely have his place. He will score between 18 and 20 goals, it’s very correct, I would have taken him. Plus I know that, in the excitement, the novelty, he’s not going to piss you off, on the bench, he’s going to do the job, he’s going to give himself in training and if you bring him in with carelessness, I would have tried. »
Lepaul would be an even different profile to expand the incredible offensive armada of the France team.
“He knows that I adore him, I often speak with him”added the former AJ Auxerre nugget. Djibril Cissé actually rubbed shoulders with Fabrice Lepaul, Esteban’s father, at Guy Roux. A promising winger for AJA, Fabrice Lepaul was the victim of a serious road accident in 1997 and then played in the reserve team for Auxerre. He died in May 2020 at the age of 43 in a car accident. His son Esteban had just finished his training at OL and then played in Epinal, in the town of his father’s birth.
