Alban Lafont in the France team, son former coach of Toulouse proud of his rise
After the injury of goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, Alban Lafont, who passed through Toulouse FC, was called up for the French football team for the first time. The coach who launched him with the pros, Dominique Arribagé, remembers a carefree goalkeeper.
A former pitchoun from Toulouse FC is selected for the first time with the French football team. Goalkeeper Alban Lafont, today at FC Nantes, was called by coach Didier Deschamps for the gathering of the Blues, after the injury of the titular goalkeeper and captain Hugo Lloris. This is the first time that Alban Lafont has been called up with the France A team, after having played for a long time with the France Espoirs team.
And it is with the Toulouse club that the 23-year-old doorman started with the professionals. Trained at Téfécé, he started his career in the purple jersey very early, in November 2015 against Nice. He is the second youngest player to start a match in Ligue 1, in the history of the French championship. : at the time, he was 16 years and 309 days old. “I had launched it in special circumstances, but it was a great moment for him“recalls the coach of the time Dominique Arribagé, who evokes a goalkeeper”carefree and had potential.”
“I never could have imagined that it would reach this level“Admit the former Toulouse FC coach, who does not hide his joy for his former goalkeeper.”It is a pride to see a Toulousain arrive at the grail that is the selection“. For the former coach, this selection is deserved: “he makes few mistakes, he has reached a new level even if he has not yet played in major competition“.
In Toulouse, Alban Lafont contests 106 matches before leaving for Italy for a year, in Florence. He returned to France with FC Nantes in 2019, where he is now the team’s captain.
Barring a huge surprise, Alban Lafont should not be aligned with the Blues during this rally. The other more experienced goalkeepers, Mike Maignan and Alphonse Aréola, are naturally ahead of him in the hierarchy. Didier Deschamps’ men received Austria on Thursday September 22, and travel to Denmark on Sunday September 25, as part of the Nations League.