France

Jeremy Mathieu called to France national team, promptly retires from international duty

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:36 p.m. ET

Alex Dowd

Despite a successful career with Valencia and now Barcelona, Jeremy Mathieu has made just five appearances for the French national team. And it looks like it's going to stay that way, as Mathieu reportedly opted to retire from international competition. The timing, though, is rather curious.

With World Cup qualifying matches taking place during the upcoming international break, France boss Didier Deschamps called Mathieu into camp. Rather than potentially feature for Les Bleus against Bulgaria and the Netherlands, Mathieu retired from international play.

Mathieu, who is 33 years old now and would be 35 by the time World Cup 2018 rolls around, apparently made the decision so that France could get some younger players integrated into the squad.

"I’m not bitter," Mathieu said. "But in my career I have not had too much luck with Les Bleus."

Considering the French team is loaded with quality young defenders, it makes sense on both sides. For France, they can continue to develop and work with the likes of Aymeric Laporte, Raphael Varane, Lucas Digne, Layvin Kurzawa and others. For Mathieu, he can take the international break as a nice little mini-vacation. It's one of those rare amicable breakups we always hear about!

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