The French national team is about to enter a new dawn under Zinedine Zidane, after Didier Deschamps departed.
France were among the favourites to win the World Cup in the summer but ended up missing out on the podium altogether, losing to Spain in the semi-finals and then to England in a ridiculous third-place play-off.
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According to what is being reported by this morning’s edition of the newspaper L’Equipe (via MilanPress), even with the change of coach from Deschamps to Zidane, Mike Maignan is sure of one thing: a starting spot.
They state that the Milan goalkeeper – despite not having returned to the top level seen in the 2023-24 season and prior to that – does not have much competition when it comes to the No.1 role in the national team.
The 31-year-old is coming off a better season with Massimiliano Allegri, especially in the first half. In the first few months with Ruben Amorim he did quite well too: two clean sheets and four goals allowed in five league games.
The new coaching staff for the national team wanted to personally confirm their trust in Maignan through Fabien Barthez, the historic French goalkeeper who was chosen by Zidane as the new goalkeeping coach.
According to L’Equipe, a few weeks ago Barthez went to the AC Milan goalkeeper and the two had a conversation lasting around five hours in which they discussed the role and spoke about the expectations of the national team.
