Zinédine Zidane’s first France squad carries a strong Rennes imprint, with seven players shaped by the club’s academy named on Friday. From Brittany’s red-and-black training ground to the senior international stage, Andy Diouf, Ousmane Dembélé, Eduardo Camavinga, Désiré Doué, Lucas Da Cunha, Jérémy Jacquet and Adrien Truffert have all taken that route.
Rennes academy at the heart of Zidane’s first selection
The seven former Rennes trainees have reached the France set-up through very different careers, but their presence together under Zidane underlines the depth of the club’s development work.
- Andy Diouf
- Ousmane Dembélé
- Eduardo Camavinga
- Désiré Doué
- Lucas Da Cunha
- Jérémy Jacquet
- Adrien Truffert
Esteban Lepaul is also a current Rennes player involved with France, although he did not come through the club’s academy.
Three players marked out for the top
Landry Chauvin, who spent two decades at Rennes and formerly led the club’s academy, had close knowledge of each of the seven players. He later worked with France’s under-18, under-19 and under-20 sides.
For Chauvin, three of the group appeared destined for the international level from an early age: Dembélé, Doué and Camavinga.
“There were three who were always likely to have an international career, whether they had been at Rennes or somewhere else,” Chauvin said. “Ousmane Dembélé is the one I knew least, because I arrived near the end of his academy period, just as he was beginning with the first team. I did not recruit him. But with Désiré Doué and Eduardo Camavinga, you could see the potential for international football.”
He added that the others had earned their progress through their own development and career choices.
Different routes into Brittany
Rennes combined local recruitment with a wider national search to assemble the group now reaching the France squad. Chauvin identified family and environmental stability as the common thread between them.
- Doué joined Rennes at the age of nine.
- Camavinga arrived when he was 11.
- Truffert entered the pre-academy system at 15.
- Dembélé came to the club at around 14 or 15.
- Da Cunha was recruited from Roanne after contact from former Rennes player Eric Atta.
- Jacquet was spotted early, aged 13, by the club’s Paris-based scouts.
“They represent the recruitment model we had: local, but also national,” Chauvin said. “The one thing they all shared was stability around their families and their environment.”
