players focused on the competition, a slow market… The delicate management of the transfer window during the tournament

Apart from the signings of Kylian Mbappé at Real Madrid and Olivier Giroud at Los Angeles FC, settled before the Euro, other transfers could take place in the off-season for several Blues.

If certain players of the France team have sealed their future by formalizing their transfer to another club before the start of the Euro, like Kylian Mbappé or Olivier Giroud, others do not yet know in which team they will play for the season next. Among the Blues, Brice Samba, Jonathan Clauss, Adrien Rabiot, Theo Hernandez and Youssouf Fofana could change clubs in the off-season, but they assure that they do not think about the transfer window during the Euro, to concentrate fully on the competition.

In 2016, Moussa Sissoko’s performances at the Euro opened the doors of Tottenham for him. Could a good performance this summer allow another Blue to dream big? “The Euro gives visibility to a player and can bring him new opportunities. We see it after each competition, if a player stands out, it can create an impulse purchase and lead to something even bigger”, replies Vivien André, Jonathan Clauss’ agent. But as a result of this, the Euro slows down the transfer market, with clubs preferring to wait until the end of the tournament to possibly try to attract a revelation from the competition.

“The market is slow for everyone, not just for the players participating in the Euro, since it is the big transfers that trigger the others and trickle down to the rest. If a club receives 40 million euros for a player , he will then be able to buy in his turn”explains Mohamed Amaar, agent of Youssouf Fofana, who is also procrastinating on the future of the Blues midfielder, under contract with Monaco until June 2025, but whom rumors send to Paris. “Today, we practically have an agreement with a big club, but we are not moving forward more than that because we never know what can happen during the Euro. We are not giving our total agreement, because if the player has a big Euro, we can have even better. And the club can also change its mind if the player does not have a good Euro.”he adds.

However, Mohamed Amaar ensures that he leaves Youssouf Fofana in his bubble. “He’s not a player who asks what’s going on. He’s always focused on what he’s doing. If there’s something concrete, we call him, but if there’s nothing nothing, we don’t talk about it and we prefer to discuss something else to take his mind off it. But there are other players who are completely different, who can call every day to find out what’s going on. “assures the agent.

The same story comes from Vivien André, Jonathan Clauss’ agent. “We don’t talk about that, because it’s not the most important thing. The competition ends no later than July 14, so there will be a month and a half behind. If there is an opportunity, whoever pleases OM in terms of transfer, and who the player likes in terms of sporting project, we will have plenty of time to talk about it. I continue to do my job as an agent, but Jonathan is not on the street, he is. he has one year left on his contract and he is happy, he explains. Afterwards, it’s certain that if tomorrow, OM calls me to tell me that they have reached an agreement with Real Madrid, that I have Florentino Perez (the president of Real) who calls me, offers me a contract, and that he tells me that he wants it to be settled quickly, I think that everyone would find a solution, but that’s not the case.”.

Questioned on the subject at a press conference, the right-back of the Blues himself stated that he wanted to stay “focused on the event”but more recently, he still showed that he remained informed of OM news with the arrival on the bench of Roberto De Zerbi. “I find it extremely positive, because we know his qualities. It can weigh in the balance, he suggested. When you know that a coach comes with playing principles like his, it shuffles the cards. We’ll see what happens this summer.”

The change of coach at Juventus Turin, with the arrival of Thiago Motta, should not retain Adrien Rabiot, at the end of his contract. “I thought my future would be settled before the Euro, that’s not the case. We were supposed to have discussions with the club when the championship finished, it didn’t happen straight away, regretted the Blues midfielder at a press conference. Then the French team gathering arrived quickly, I got all that out of my head and people are working for me.”

Ignoring the transfer window to concentrate on the competition, “that’s what we ask of them”assures Raymond Domenech, who experienced these situations at the head of the Blues between 2004 and 2010. “You have an agent who you give 10% of all your assets to do something, make him work a little. When it’s in place, he’ll tell you what’s best and a phone call “A quarter of an hour will be enough. There’s no point spending your days thinking and debating.”he insists.

Didier Deschamps simply asked his players to “find the right timing so that it can be done without going against the collective objective”. It is therefore unlikely – especially since no player will be absent to undergo a medical examination – that a Blue will sign a contract during the Euro, as did the Swiss Fabian Rieder, whose loan to Stuttgart by Stade Rennais was ratified on June 24, facilitated by the fact that the Nati base camp is in Stuttgart.