Theo Hernandez’s start to the 2024/25 season has been way below his regular standards, and the AC Milan star may face a drop down the France National Team pecking order, according to reports from France.
During the European Championship, Theo struggled to impact games as he has done for club and country in the past. Going forward, he was not as strong, and he didn’t create much threat during the tournament. However, defensively, he was much better than he had previously been.
Unfortunately, since the start of the new season, the same cannot be said. The left-back has struggled when going forward and during defensive phases. As a result, questions are being asked of him, and whether he is in the right frame of mind.
With his struggles, a report from L’Equipe (via Get French Football Now) states that the French camp fears that he has hit his ceiling. It is reported that the left-back will not start against Belgium this evening, with 31-year-old Lucas Digne being preferred instead.
If this comes to fruition, it will be the second game in three that the left-back has been dropped, a worrying statistic. Furthermore, if Theo has hit his ceiling, the Rossoneri may have to reconsider his demands.
Lay off the junk food
hahaha
Players of his kind usually drop off towards the end of their 20s. A sale should perhaps have been considered this summer.
And with two years remaining on contract? 100%. After Royal and Fonseca, this is another transfer market fail.
Not selling Theo is a fail? To whom exactly? Who came knocking on our door this summer? Oh that’s right. Not one club.
Huge increase his salary. Make him lazy like leao.
“L’Equipe (via Get French Football Now) states that the French camp fears that he has hit his ceiling. ”
“Furthermore, if Theo has hit his ceiling, the Rossoneri may have to reconsider his demands.”
what happened? I think her name is Zoe
Orrr……
……his form has dipped a little.
Vultures
“During the European Championship, Theo struggled to impact games as he has done for club and country in the past. Going forward, he was not as strong, and he didn’t create much threat during the tournament.”
It’s not that he [Theo] struggled going forward, it’s that the WHOLE french team didn’t do much going forward, didn’t have an actual playmaker and even the strikers who were bulldozing their respective leagues barely weeks prior (Mbappé and Thuram just to name those), were unable to make a decent game.
In the end when your whole team scores only 1 goal from open play in an entire tournament, I think the left-back position is not the first thing to look at.
I agree with that even tho Theo is not my man.
Milan must know when to sell and when to hold players. I often feel we hold onto players too long to the point where their value decreases or they leave for FREE.
That’s what you should expect as a fan from the team you support. Yes, obviously it’s better if you can sell a player in the last of his best days for max cash, but the truth is you can’t unless you see in the future. Also, people are making too much noise around Theo after only 3 rounds, when he didn’t have a pre-season and now he plays under new coach.
Most of the “should-have-sold-him” people here would have rioted if he was sold this summer. He is probably our best player in the squad and very consistent in his whole stay with us. Let’s give him some time to get in form and show some respect to the captain.
To clarify what I meant – you want the player to stay in the club during his whole peak form, not sell him because he is hot on the market right now.
Also, as others mentioned, the whole French squad has a problem – not Theo. Deschamps, for all he succeeded with this team in the last few big forums, needs to give the place to someone else.
Thank you bro
So his ceiling is one of the top 3 LBs in the world… Yeah, that’s terrible, lets get rid of him.
Gotta figure how to keep him motivated. They are human beings, not robots. Playing without any trophies in the last 3 years with no clear direction for the club or a plan to upgrade and challenge can take a toll.
Madrid won 5 CL’s in the last 9 years. Milan has a Scudetto. He may be ready to move on unfortunately.
100%, and he knows he walks into City or Madrid’s starting XI….if every summer the signings are underwhelming and the objectives aren’t aspirational l, what’s he gonna do
“Gotta figure how to keep him motivated. They are human beings, not robots.”
It’s hard for the management to keep a player motivated when the owner and the president publicly say that their goal is top 4 each season and that they don’t care that much about trophies.
Also bringing players like Musah, Loftus-Cheek, Emerson Royal, Fofana,… doesn’t scream “we want a serie A and an UCL”.
Try making your argument without lying and making up things that people actually never said. Never said they didn’t care about trophies or that their goal was just to finish top 4 every year.
This is actually a direct quote:
“I’m here to stay for a long time, I have a job to do. I’m committed to bringing Milan back to the top of Serie A and Europe and I won’t stop before I’ve achieved these results,” Cardinale said in an interview with Corriere della Sera.
“And when we have reached them, I will want to reach them again.
“We have changed a lot and it takes time to create a cohesive team. However, we are growing, close to second place, and credit for this must be given to the players, staff and coach. I will be satisfied when we win the Champions League.”
Here’s what Scaroni said, I’m quoting this from an article published on this website on 28/11/2023:
“I would like to win every match. For us it is a necessity to always be in the Champions League for economic reasons, but also because we want to feed our 500 million fans around the world with Milan. If I could always win the Scudetto I would obviously be happy, but it would be something more. The minimum goal is to qualify for the Champions League every year. Of course it is also a goal to get through the Champions League group stage, let’s hope that will happen again this year,” Scaroni said. Doesn’t seem very ambitious.
“We want to win Serie A and the Champions League every year, but the whole thing would lose value. The cornerstone of sport is the unpredictability of the human element. It’s a broader discourse, but what’s happening in sport nowadays is worrying.” Cardinale said in an article published here on 29/02/2024
I think there were more quotes from Cardinale, but didn’t bother checking them all.
Right, so which part of what he said is not good?
The minimum of top 4 every year? You know what minimum means, right? Is that a terrible goal?
He literally said he” wants to win Serie A and Champions League every year”, but he has the nerve to be realistic about it and know that’s not how it works. Unlike the army of delusional idiots on here who think if we don’t win a Scudetto and Champions League every year the owners are idiots who don’t care. They conveniently forget the 10 year period where Milan never won a thing and didn’t even qualify for Champions League.
Close to second? 20 points? You’re funny….
@Drew. They literally finished in second place. Not close to second, but second. Compared to the previous year where they finished 5th in points , before they took over. To explain to you like you are a child, 2nd place is better. They improved the team.
We still finished 20 points behind whether we are second last year or fifth the year before …it’s irrelevant….are we judging ourselves on the best team in the League or the also rans?
“Right, so which part of what he said is not good?”
Which part is good ? So now winning every year is “boring” and the competitions will lose their value ? Do Real Madrid look like they care about that ?
“Let’s not try to win every year or people will get bored of the UCL” does that sound like a good objective ?
“If I could always win the Scudetto I would obviously be happy, but it would be something more.” So now winning the scudetto is just a plus, a bonus ? Also do I need to remind you about that time where he said he would personally pack Leao’s bags if 150M€ came in ? What message do you think that delivers to Theo and Leao ?
Also you’re fixated on the quotes. Do you think hiring a coach like Fonseca (instead of Conceiçao who is still available) and getting players like Emerson Royal and Fofana speak ambition ? We spent almost 200M€ in 2 summers, yet the only outstanding player we managed to get is Pulisic.
Renew to Jovic only to drop him out of the UCL list. Keep Saelemakers because the coach asked so, only to trade him with Abraham. Sanction Theo, but no player can replace him. Dropped Adli, but now Bennacer is injured. Do all of those scream competence and ambition ?
These are just excuses, and not good ones. Milan absolutely have a strong enough squad to challenge for the Scudetto if our top players like Theo actually play like top players. And Milan are playing in Champions League, so if a player can’t get motivated by that then that is a serious character flaw in the player. It’s not like he’s at Torino or something.
Gigantic, You still even after being called out can’t stop making stuff up. Putting quotes around things he never said is the most dishonest thing you can do, or you just don’t understand what quotation marks are for.
Never said the word “boring” never said “let’s not try to win every year”. He actually said the opposite.
You are either a complete moron or just an incredibly dishonest person who can’t defend his position without lying.
Lol it isn’t the first time theo has come back out of shape. I recall last season the first 0 games people wrote him off that he’s not as good or fast and then returned to his form. By October he’ll be back to his best.
This is a ridiculous statement. Haaland looked like he’d dropped off last season, he’d been injured…it happens to players at any time. I will say he does look like he’s carrying a bit of extra weight. Perhaps someone needs to check in on his mental health or motivation levels..he’s still the best LB in football and we are lucky to have him.
Anyone who watches France play can understand that in this case it’s not a Theo issue. It’s a Deschamps issue – his safe controlled football does not make the best use of the attacking talent he has. France has been underperforming since before the EURO’s.
Not to say Theo isn’t at fault here, because he has been lazy tracking back of late, especially in their loss to Italy.
Agreed. Deschamps’ tactics are not working for the whole team.
I also agree with what you say above about motivation at Milan. He is a top player at his position but still it’s others who win trophies and have better salaries. He is poor compared to his brother.
Motivation is found in a competitive team and silverware, not in the continuous hope that Milan’s cheap mercato will work out. Plus the pressure that he and Leao must solve every game, because many of their team mates are below standards, might put a toll on Theo’s physical and mental power.
Agreed. Deschamps’ tactics are not working for the whole team.
I also agree with what you say above about motivation at Milan. He is a top player at his position but still it’s others who win trophies and have better salaries. For comparision, he is poor compared to his brother.
Motivation is found in a competitive team and silverware, not in the continuous hope that Milan’s cheap mercato will work out. Plus the pressure that he and Leao must solve every game, because many of their team mates are below standards, might put a toll on Theo’s physical and mental power.
So after the first time my comment was not published, I wrote it again and it got published twice….Such a great platform.
Mine are always ‘awaiting moderation’ 😂 it’s a free speech platform but you can’t say certain things 😂😂
meanwhile some posters here have a free pass to insult everyone and the moderation doesn’t bat an eye.
I think he’s carrier will going down by now, season after season. I can see this in his attitude