We are 29 days from the 2026 tournament and France's midfield depth chart has a structural hole that Didier Deschamps has not addressed. Strip away Griezmann and there is no creative midfielder in this squad to replace him, none.

Fofana and Tchouaméni are elite ball-winners. They are not playmakers, and that distinction is not a minor detail when tournament knockout football demands improvisation and invention in tight spaces.

France's most recent squad selection windows produced no backup No. 10. That is not an oversight from Deschamps, it is a structural choice, and it is the wrong one at the worst time.

At 33, Griezmann carried a significant minutes load at Atlético Madrid this season. Tournament football compounds fatigue over six games in four weeks; by any reasonable assessment, the fitness risk here is significant, not theoretical.

The historical comparison makes this sharper. In 2022, Paul Pogba functioned as a creative safety valve before injury removed him from the tournament entirely. France survived because Griezmann absorbed the creative burden then. In 2026, there is no equivalent safety valve at all.

The counter-argument writes itself: Deschamps has won a World Cup with a similar profile, prioritising defensive solidity and collective shape over individual creative depth. One title, though, does not make a system repeatable under different personnel conditions, and France's current squad lacks the attacking width that covered those midfield limitations in 2018.

Our view is that France will exit before the final if Griezmann misses more than one match — and Deschamps has no creative lever to pull when that moment arrives. The tournament will expose that the moment the squad needs one.

This article was researched and drafted with AI assistance and reviewed by our editorial team.