Alassane Pléa, former Lyon striker and Nice now at the PSV Eindhoven, returned to his short passage to the French team with a single selection in 2018, where he thought he could confirm even if he was well aware of the strong competition in his post.
After a seven -year adventure in the Bundesliga, Alassane Pléa (32) offered a new challenge by joining the PSV Eindhoven under the orders of Peter Bosz this summer. He left a championship where he exploded at the highest level with Borussia Mönchengladbach after his passages in Lyon, Nice or Auxerre. It was there, a few months after his arrival in the German championship (in the summer of 2018), that he knew his first invitation to the French team in November 2018.
More called since October 2019
First on the bench in the Netherlands (2-0, League of Nations), he came into play in place of Olivier Giroud four days later during a friendly against Uruguay (1-0). Didier Deschamps had recalled her a year later – to replace Kylian Mbappé – but without bringing him into play in front of Iceland (0-1), then against Turkey (1-1), in October 2019, during the qualifications at Euro 2021. His last time in the French group.
In an interview with the team on Tuesday, the Lille native confides that he expected to experience a less brief passage in selection, while being aware of the huge competition at his post. “I saw myself continuing on my momentum,” he explains. “What happened to me was magnificent but I was quite lucid. I knew that in France team, there was a lot of competition, players who play in very big clubs. Afterwards, it is the choice of the coach. As long as I was efficient for my club, it was the main one. All these years, I have rarely been injured, I have always played. I have no regrets.”
With a single selection of friendly, Pléa could have changed colors and opt for Mali, which made him a diligent court. But he did not follow up. “At the start, I had chosen the French team, that’s what I wanted,” he recently told the influencer Angagr. “After that, I did not want to change selection because it was not correct, I had made this choice. Compared to other players, I didn’t want to change. I didn’t want to pass Mali for a default choice).”
