Mbappe's Captaincy: The Last Straw of The Transition Puzzle?

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The French national team has done a fantastic job of rebuilding the team since the tumultuous era of Raymond Domenech and the team's shambolic showing at the 2010 world cup, which was filled with players' unrest and insubordination. There needed to be a complete overhaul to make sure that Les Bleus regain their spot in the committee of footballing nations.

Step in Didier Deschamps in 2012 with the ominous task and the rest has been a ride that most - if not all - French football fans would be proud of. The bad eggs were weed off and a new era begun for the Les Bleus. Deschamps led the team into the knockout stages (where they lost to eventual winners, Spain) at the 2012 Euros with majority of the 2010 team still intact.

But by the time the next world cup came around, Deschamps was already beginning to put the demons of 2010 behind him with Lloris getting the armband and the likes of Pogba, Matuidi and Cabaye taking over the midfield area while Varane was understudying the likes of Koscielny and Sakho. The transition had begun with the midfield of Matuidi and Pogba laying the perfect platform for the blossom that was to follow later.

The transition was gradual and slow, but steady. The French mojo was gradually being restored, and that was most evident in their performances at the Euro 2016 where they hosted and were arguably unlucky to lose the final to Portugal. From there on was upward and the transition was complete. The team was dominated by the likes of Paul Pogba and and Blaise Matuidi in midfield, and Olivier Giroud and Antoine Griezman in attack.

This was just as Ngolo Kante and Kingsley Coman waited their time on the reserves. But the stage was already set for the future and what's to come in two years' time. While the likes of Sagna, Evra, Koscielny were nearing their end, the likes of Pogba, Matuidi, Giroud were getting established, with the likes of Coman and Kanté were gaining valuable lessons.

By euro 2020, the team took a new shape as the likes of Pavard, Maignan, Koundé, Kimpembé, Tolisso, Rabiot and Marcus Thuram gained entrance into the team. The French team began to take a different look as the future beckoned with a lot of exciting talents led by the prodigious Kylian Mbappe. But the core of the team was still with the likes of Lloris, Varane, Griezman, Pogba, Kanté, Sissoko, and Olivier Giroud.

The team with all its stars and clout still fell to Switzerland on penalties in the round of 16, with golden boy Mbappe missing the decisive kick. It was all about what was supposed to be for Les Bleus as attention was shifted immediately to the 2022 world cup. The squad was well stocked with a blend of youth and experience that looked set to compete in the world cup.

But as the world cup rolled up, the core of the team started falling by the way side in a frenzy of injuries as the workload of the post covid era started taking its toll on players. With the likes of Pogba, Kanté and Benzema missing out due to injury, the midfield was left bare and many pundits expected them to be picked apart.

But then stepped up Adrien Rabiot, Eduardo Camavinga and Aurelien Tchoameni - and when needed, Youssouf Fofana. Perhaps another transition was about to begin taking into consideration the fact that Pogba has spent more time in the hospital than on the field in the last two years and Kanté was becoming human himself. France needed to start planning for the future.

They went all the way to the final of the world cup and were only denied by penalties. A striking thing about the final though was the fact that they only sparked into life in the second half after the introduction of the likes of Thuram and Kolo Muani. Perhaps the attack also deserved transition?.

Fast forward to the the euro qualifiers and Kylian Mbappe was named captain of the national team, even with the likes of Griezman and Giroud still in the team. Mike Maignan has taken over in goal, Pavar, Kounde, Konate, Upamecano and Hernandez are jostling for the defensive positions, Tchoameni, Camavinga, Rabiot and Griezman are fighting it out in midfield, while Mbappe leads the attack alongside Kolo Muani and Kingsley Coman.

This is while the Thuram brothers are biding their time on the reserves along with Youssouf Fofana, Diaby, and Todibo. This is not taking the like of Saliba out of the equation. Now it's beginning to look like the captaincy of Mbappe is a sign of the completion of the transition cycle from the Paul Pogba, Ngolo Kanté and Giroud era led by Hugo Lloris, into the time of Maignan, Camavinga, Tchoameni, and Kolo Muani, era led by Kylian Mbappe.

France seems to be moving at a speed faster and smoother than their opponents with regards moving into a new era, and they're doing it right under everybody's noses without anyone seemingly noticing. Perhaps, it's time to herald the Kylian Mbappe era. Welcome to the Mbappe era!

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