Rising Rennes star Eduardo Camavinga impressed France coach Didier Deschamps with his match-winning performance against Montpellier at the weekend is in line to make his senior debut in the UEFA Nations League in the next week.
Deschamps has called up a 23-man squad for France's UEFA Nations League matches against Sweden (5 September in Stockholm) and Croatia (8 September at the Stade de France), with the notable inclusion of rising Rennes superstar Eduardo Camavinga - who stunned in Ligue 1 Uber Eats with a sublime goal to cap his excellent performance in the 2-1 win over Montpellier.
What did you think of Eduardo Camavinga's performance against Montpellier this weekend?
"Well I obviously made he right choice to call him up to the squad [laughs]. That sums up what he's capable of doing. Despite his young age, he's very confident. He has technical qualities in the use of the ball and he scored a beautifully conceived goal. Seeing the ease with which he made those two or three body feints, without touching the ball, shows that he has this technical ease that can allow him to be decisive in offensive zones."
How do you plan to integrate him into the team given his young age?
"We obviously have to manage him because he's young and this call-up comes quickly after his arrival on the scene. But from the moment he's in the squad, he has just as much of a chance of playing as anyone else. He will therefore be managed like any other player and he will have some game time, of course."
Has he been brought in with an eye on the Euros?
"That I have called him up for this camp suggests that he is one of the players likely to be in the list of 23 for the Euros. But one can say the same thing for the players I called up before and those I will call up afterwards. There are also absent players. I will have choices to make. I didn't call him up for its own sake or to please anyone. I said on the day of the squad announcement: this call-up came quickly or maybe even very quickly, but that doesn't mean he isn't capable of rising to the challenge. Still, his career only started recently and it always takes a while to get to the international level. Circumstances [Paul Pogba's forfeit] made his arrival in the squad happen perhaps earlier than foreseen but I know he has the potential, even if there is a risk that he will have a more difficult time."
