Put on a blue jersey to link Mexico to Japan… This is what could happen to André-Pierre Gignac, the former striker of the France team (36 caps, 7 goals) who is currently blazing with the Monterrey Tigers where it happened six years ago.
According to information released during the retransmission of Saint-Etienne-Marseille this Sunday by Laurent Paganelli, the man in the field of Canal +, Gignac could participate, at 35, in the Olympic tournament in Tokyo (July 21 to August 7).
His name would indeed appear in a list of players pre-summoned for the Olympics where the France team will face Japan, host country, Mexico and South Africa.
He never announced his international retirement
According to our information, the coach of the Espoirs Sylvain Ripoll has indeed provided a first list of players with… 90 names, including Gignac. The final list, which will include 18 players including 2 goalkeepers and 4 reservists who can only join the team in the event of a medical package, will be disclosed in the first two weeks of June, certainly after the final phase of the Euro Espoirs ( May 31 to June 6) where the Bleuets will face the Netherlands in the quarterfinals. The presence of André-Pierre Gignac in this narrow selection is therefore not at all guaranteed. The fact remains that it would not be illegitimate since the rule specifies that if all the players born after January 1, 1997 are selectable, each formation can integrate three jokers born after this date.
And it might not be that surprising either.
Exiled since 2015 in Mexico, where he will soon be joined by Florian Thauvin, the former OM striker has gradually moved away from the France team and has not been called by Didier Deschamps since October 2016. The emergence of Kylian Mbappé, in particular, has gradually relegated him to oblivion, but André-Pierre Gignac has never announced his international retirement.
He knows Sylvain Ripoll well, who was assistant coach of Lorient when he was there, and he has found a second youth in Mexico.
Read also Gignac becomes top European scorer in the history of the Mexican league
Best player and top scorer in the 2020 Concacaf Champions League (Football Confederation of North America, Central America and the Caribbean) which he won, he has scored 14 goals in 31 games this season. Gignac shines to the point of becoming a real idol for Tigers supporters. And to catch Sylvain Ripoll's eye.
