MAY 13, 2014
Named in Didier
Deschamps’ squad
for the 2014 World
Cup, starting every
match and scoring
in the 5-2 win over
Switzerland.MAY 12, 2016
Named in
Didier Deschamps
23-man squad for
Euro2016onhome
soil. Plays every
match, including
the final.AUG 18, 2017
JoinsJuventusona
three-year contract,
making his debut
the next day in 3-0
home win over
Cagliari.JUL 15, 2018
Starts the
World Cup final
as France lift the
trophy with a 4-2
victory against
Croatia.AUG 13, 2020
Signs for MLS
club Inter Miami on
afreetransfer,after
Juventus agree to
terminate his
contract.With Troyes and then Saint-Etienne,
he went from strength to strength,
not only earning rave reviews for his
“Marathon Man” efforts as a defensive
midfielder, but also praised for his fair
play, for rarely resorting to illegality. Full
of energy and clean combativeness, his
modus operandi was to stick like glue
to an opponent. Hence the nickname
“Chewing Gum”, conceived by France
national team colleague Samir Nasri.
He was now very much on his way.
At Troyes, he became a French U21
international. In September 2010, while
at Saint-Etienne, he won his first full
cap, appearing as a substitute in a Euro
2012 qualifier against Bosnia in Sarajevo.
It was almost inevitable that he would
join Paris Saint-Germain, signing for
them for a fee of around€8m inJuly- He had been a PSG fan since
childhood – especially revering Nigerian
dribbler extraordinaireJay-Jay Okocha
passed the Clairefontaine entrance
examination at the age of13. Only the
very best young French players gain
admittance, and soon he was attracting
big-name admirers,
not least a certain Pep
Guardiola, according to
former Clairefontaine
coach Francisco Filho:
“I was with the
Clairefontaine team
for a tournament in
Las Palmas in the
Canary Islands,” Filho toldRadio Monte
Carlolast year. “While there I got to
knowPepGuardiola, whowason
holiday at the time. He was still a player
then in Qatar. One night we were having
dinner together and he asked who our
number six was. He said he liked him
a lot and that as a coach, he’d love
a player like that. You know who he
was talking about? Blaise Matuidi.”
Rather peculiarly, Blaise was not
exactly inundated with job offers on
graduating from the national academy
in 2003. Negotiations with Lyon went
awry and he had to search high and low
for an employer. Eventually, he penned
an apprenticeship deal with second
division Troyes, where head coach
Jean-Marc Furlan quickly transformed
him from a youth-team wannabe to
first-team mainstay. “I oweJean-Marc
Furlan a lot,” says Matuidi. “Where
I am today is thanks to him.”
- and might even have joined them in
his early teens. Invited to play for PSG
in a prestigious Under-12 tournament,
he had the chance to definitively sign
on. Instead he plumped for the
Clairefontaine experience.
Choices, choices and up to now,
Matuidi has been proved right on every
single career call. Slowly but surely, he
has managed, in his own words, “to
reach the roof of the world.” Driven
and never satisfied, it’s not in his nature
to resort to half-measures. He’ll be
striving just as hard in the MLS with
Inter Miami. You can count on it.
Blaise Matuidi
Reunion...Matuidi
played alongside
Beckham at PSG“[Pep Guardiola] asked who our number six
was. He said he liked him a lot and that as a
coach, he’d love a player like that. You know
who he was talking about? Blaise Matuidi”
Francisco Filho, Former Clairefontaine coachSilverware...The midfielder
won five trophies
in Italy