Two Premier League left-backs, Everton’s Lucas Digne and Manchester City’s Benjamin Mendy, are fighting for a place in Didier Deschamps’s Euro 2020 squad.
France had already sealed their place at Euro 2020 before their final qualifying clash away at Albania on Sunday night. So the pressure was off, right? Well, not if you’re Benjamin Mendy.
You would imagine that there is place for just the two left-backs in Didier Deschamps squad when everyone is fit and firing and, as it stands, Manchester City’s £52 million flyer looks at serious risk of missing out on a second successive international tournament.
Bayern Munich’s Lucas Hernandez should remain France’s first-choice on the left-hand side and, behind him, it seems that Mendy and Lucas Digne are going head to head.
But while Everton’s set-piece specialist took his chance to impress during Thursday’s narrow win against Moldova, winning a late penalty and taking home the Man of the Match award, Mendy hardly did his prospects much good just three days later.
Injuries have clearly taken their toll on this once explosive talent but it was Mendy’s defending, or a lack thereof, which will give the typically pragmatic Deschamps plenty of concerns. Time and again, the former Monaco ace was caught out against Albania, the weakest of weak links against technical yet limited opposition.
With Euro 2020 looming on the horizon, it seems that Digne, who replaced Mendy late in the game, is in control of that coveted place in Deschamps’ squad.
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