Established by Didier Deschamps for the last group match against Tunisia, Jordan Veretout is playing his first minutes in the World Cup. But who is this midfielder?
He was one of the surprises embarked by Didier Deschamps in Qatar: he now sees the opportunity to assert himself with the general public. Jordan Veretout, 29, starts with the France team this Wednesday, November 30, 2022 for the last group match of the Blues against Tunisia. Already assured of playing in the round of 16, the Habs are playing a final meeting with a very largely redesigned starting lineup with the player of theOM in his midfield. If his call for the World Cup has been decried, Jordan Veretout took advantage of the absences due to injury of Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kanté to join a tricolor group which he joined a short time ago.
Before being selected by Didier Deschamps, Jordan Veretout went through various youth categories of the France team. The midfielder first started with the under-18s (2010-2011), before joining the under-19s the following season and then the under-20s in 2012-2013. A group in which there were Alphonse Areola, Kurt Zouma, Lucas Digne, Paul Pogba or even Florian Thauvin, and with which he was world champion in 2013. The native of Ancenis then joined the Espoirs in 2013-2014. Then he had to wait seven years before wearing the tricolor jersey again, this time with the first team, in a match against Bosnia and Herzegovina in September 2021. A first selection, as a starter followed by four others since, each time as a substitute.
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At 29, Jordan Veretout already enjoys a busy football career, which began in Loire-Atlantique, near Nantes, the department where he is from. From an early age, a round ball was put between his feet at Belligné. FC Nantes spotted him and he joined the Canaris training center in 2003, at the age of 10. He rose through the ranks one by one and, after joining the reserve team, made his professional debut in the spring of 2011, during the last matches of the FCN season, then in Ligue 2. In the process, the club changed coach and Landry Chauvin, the athlete’s new boss, made Jordan Veretout a centerpiece of his XI in 2011-2012, when he was only 18 years old. He played 35 games and asserted himself as a key element, retained by Michel der Zakarian the following seasons, with whom he would experience Ligue 1.
In the summer of 2015, direction England and Aston Villa where the experience is mixed. Placed on the bench of a team in distress, the Frenchman regained his splendor with the arrival of Rémi Garde as coach who restored him to a starting position. The club’s relegation to the 2nd division pushed the midfielder to return to France, to Saint-Etienne, where he had a full season in Ligue 1 and Europa League, participating in almost all matches as a starter.
His adventure finally continues in Italy, on the side of Fiorentina, where the Frenchman will take on another dimension, establishing himself as a central element of the team in midfield for two seasons (2017-2019). To the point of catching the eye of AS Roma which offers him just as much playing time for three years, with even a 2021-2022 season with 50 games between the championship and the European Cup. With La Louve, Veretout is particularly decisive, planting 20 goals and distilling three assists during his Roman experience. His performances earned him a call from Didier Deschamps… then OM, when his relations with José Mourinho, coach last season, were strained.
If the selection of Jordan Veretout with the French team for the World Cup was not unanimous, his arrival at OM in the summer of 2022 was also turned upside down by an extra-sporting affair, with which he was associated. When the midfielder signs on the Cannebière, a anonymous twitter account claims that Jordan Veretout paid the legal fees of his wife’s father, then the subject of a rape complaint filed by one of his other daughters. For the Internet user, the footballer thus becomes an accomplice in the abuse committed by his stepfather.
However, if the case was well judged in 2021 as told The Mail of the Pays du Retz, the name of the French international was never mentioned in the file. And the father’s lawyer’s fees were paid by the family, said counsel for the respondent, to the Figaro. At the end of the trial, the man was sentenced to two years in prison. And there was never any question of any involvement, near or far, of Jordan Veretout.