It has to be Madridista - Mbappe's Real teammate to captain France

The French national team is undergoing a reorganization phase. Various experienced players, such as Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezmann, have recently retired, leaving room for younger players to prove themselves in the blue jersey with a rooster on their chest.

The captain role was also left with a question mark hanging over it. Even though Kylian Mbappe - as the best player of this generation - should have been a permanent solution, the Real Madrid forward did not join the national team, leaving the team leader spot open.

France is fuming at Mbappe: He's tarnishing his image, mocking Deschamps...

The candidates were numerous. In terms of appearances, Ousmane Dembele led the race with 51 caps; regarding age, Jonathan Clauss (32) and Lucas Digne (31) have the most experience, even though the Nice defender played only 14 matches for France, whereas the Aston Villa left-back is a returnee to the team. Finally, concerning reputation among teammates and leadership capabilities, Mike Maignan seemed the ideal choice, while Ibrahima Konate even proposed himself for the role.

And AC Milan custodian was the favourite to take the armband and lead the French national team in the UEFA Nations League against Israel (21.45). Still, surprisingly or not, Deschamps opted for a name nobody expected - Aurelien Tchouameni.

Real Madrid midfielder is among the younger players on the team but is the third regarding caps - behind Dembele and Digne - with the same number of games (36) as Jules Kounde, who was also in competition for the role. Yet, in the end, France boss chose a young but at the same time experienced skipper with a lot of important matches behind him.

Given that Mbappe's current reputation in France after the latest absence is quite bad and the public reaction to it was fierce, we'll see whether Tchouameni would be just a temporary solution or Kylian might have lost the armband for good.

UEFA NATIONS LEAGUE A

Thursday

21:45: (12.0) Israel (6.50) France (1.22)

21:45: (2.00) Italy (3.40) Belgium (3.90)

Friday

21:45: (5.00) Hungary (4.10) Netherlands (1.65)

21:45: (10.5) B&H (6.75) Germany (1.28)

Saturday

19:00: (1.63) Croatia (3.80) Scotland (5.70)

21:45: (5.50) Poland (3.90) Portugal (1.63)

21:45: (2.65) Serbia (3.25) Switzerland (2.95)

21:45: (1.40) Spain (4.60) Denmark (8.00)

Monday

21:45: (1.65) Germany (3.80) Netherlands (5.40)

21:45: (3.00) Belgium (3.40) France (2.35)

Tuesday

21:45: (5.20) Scotland (3.80) Portugal (1.75)

21:45: (1.30) Spain (5.80) Serbia (12.0)

***odds are subject to change***