World, Veretout “recommended”? The case breaks out in France

At the World Cup, France arrives with a midfield that needs to be reinvented. Behind the only true certainty Adrien Rabiot, in fact, coach Didier Deschamps must compensate for the absence of the Pogba-Kanté duo with alternative names. In Qatar, therefore, Aurelien Tchouameni, of Real Madrid, and Youssouf Fofana of Monaco, as owners in pectore, go there. But as a reserve, the Bleus also bring the other young player from Real Madrid, Eduardo Camavinga, and the Marseillais Matteo Guendouzi and above all Jordan Veretout.

Precisely the convocation of the former Giallorossi caused a first controversy that calls into question conflicts of interest for the Deschamps staff, and perhaps even some jealousy involving excluded agents and players.

CROSSINGS

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It all started when a well-known columnist of RmcSport, Daniel Riolo, evoked the link between Veretout and the intermediary Vadim Vasyliev, former president of Monaco and now at the helm of the company VV Consulting, which looks after the interests of various players. The Russian, with a Maltese passport, intervened as an intermediary in Veretout’s passage from Rome to Marseille, in support of the formal agent Kevin Ben Haim. A current practice in the transfer market. The problem is that VV Consulting also employs Bachir Nehar as a consultant, in turn under a two-year contract until the end of the World Cup with the Football Association, as a member of the Deschamps staff, whom he has known since Monaco.

GUERRILLA

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Nehar has the task of assisting the national teams during the retreats, with whom he is in close relations, so much so that he can also spend a few evenings playing poker, in the role of croupier. According to RmcSport and the newspaper Le Monde, the intendant could thus “recommend” Veretout to Deschamps. A hypothesis that at first glance tends not to ponder with realism the profile of a coach of the caliber of Deschamps who in the past had no problem excluding players like Benzema or Rabiot, only to recall them according to their sporting needs. And above all, the controversy over the former Roma midfielder brings to the surface the ongoing guerrilla war between the union of French agents and Vasyliev, who is accused of operating without a license.

BALLOTAGES

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And it should not be forgotten that Veretout’s convening led to the exclusion of other colleagues. Like Boubacar Kamara, who spent last summer from Marseille at Aston Villa. The Hummers player, however, was injured in September, when he was urgently called up to make up for Rabiot’s unavailability. Except getting injured the same evening and then giving way to Veretout. The two were therefore in a ballot. The Aston Villa player, with his 173 ‘in Bleu in 2022 (three games in June, two of which as a starter), seemed to have an advantage over Veretout who has never played for France this year, beyond of the five overall appearances since September 2021. Hence the criticisms of some commentators who might have preferred Tanguy Ndombele, brilliant with Napoli, but out of the Bleus for over a year and a half (7 races between 2019 and 2021). Deschamps, however, preferred to bet on Veretout who, unlike Kamara who remained in the infirmary until last week, in the meantime always played as a starter with Tudor’s Marseille. “If a month ago – Veretout admitted to the newspaper La Provence – you had asked me if I believed in a call for the World Cup, I would have answered no, but in the last period I have raised my level of need to be ready”.