FC Nantes goalkeeper Alban Lafont was called up to the senior France squad for the first time in the recent international break.

Lafont has long been regarded as one of the brightest young goalkeepers in world football, and has had one of the highest potential ratings in the FIFA video games series for a number of seasons.

And life has begun to imitate art in recent seasons, the former Toulouse FC and Fiorentina man shooting to prominence in February when he made seven saves for Nantes in a 3-1 win over Paris Saint-Germain, which included a penalty stop from Neymar Jr.

Randal Kolo Muani scored the opener that day. The forward has since moved onto Eintracht Frankfurt, but it was him who first told Lafont that he had been called up for France's UEFA Nations League meetings with Austria and Denmark.

Lafont: 'about to take a nap!'

"I was at home with my dad and my brother because we had two or three days off," Lafont told l'Equipe. "I was about to take a quick nap and Randal called me first because he was there as the coach [Didier Deschamps] had informed the players. Then the call to confirm it came quickly."

In the event, Lafton watched all 180 minutes of football from the bench, but the 23-year-old - who kept eight clean sheets in the league last season and helped his side to the Coupe de France - was simply glad to take the step up.

"It highlights my work, he said. "It was a great recognition and above all a joy and real pleasure. I'm going to remember a lot of things I learned there, about group life in the national team, about training... of course, also rubbing shoulders with goalkeepers like Mike Maignan, Alphonse [Areola] and Steve Mandanda, it's beneficial.

"There's a hierarchy. If you ask me, of course I want to be there [at the World Cup], but I have to work hard at Nantes and perform well, in training and matches. The club must have good results and then we'll see what happens next. Coach Deschamps already has a lot of very good goalkeepers, so it's up to me to wait and work, and we'll see later."