France’s hopes of qualification for the 2014 World Cup remain very much on course, but whether Les Bleus make it or not, it is certain that midfielder Yann M’Vila will not be in Brazil for the tournament: He has been suspended by the French Football Federation (FFF) until the end of June 2014 for breaking a curfew whilst on international duty with the Under-21 team. Already firmly outside of the national team fold after Didier Deschamps took over from Laurent Blanc this summer, M’Vila’s career is in a deep nose dive, having been a key part of Blanc’s team just months ago.
Going into Euro 2012, the midfielder was captain of his club, Rennes and had the likes of Arsenal and Inter Milan monitoring his progress. If only he could keep himself on the straight and narrow.
A miserable time in Poland/Ukraine saw the 22-year-old fingered as one of four troublemakers in the national team, who were called before the FFF to explain their behaviour during the tournament. In the event, M’Vila escaped the bans handed out to Samir Nasri and Jeremy Menez, but was still fined and had his bonus payments from Euro 2012 withdrawn. The Rennes midfielder had failed to shake Blanc’s hand after being taken off in their quarter-final defeat to Spain, when substituted for Olivier Giroud, who had been likely to be a future team-mate of M’Vila at Arsenal.
But Arsene Wenger’s interest cooled, as did that of Inter Milan. The other Champions League side chasing him, Zenit St. Petersburg, instead opted for Belgium international Axel Witsel. Along with Nasri and Hatem Ben Arfa, the fourth player disciplined by the FFF, M’Vila has not featured yet under Deschamps for France – and now it is a serious doubt whether he ever will. The former Marseille coach is a notorious disciplinarian who has also kept away Nasri from the international team even after his suspension from the squad by the FFF concluded.
As if all of that was not bad enough, M’Vila has recently found himself on the end of a club ban from Rennes for his discretion while with the France Under-21 team. Along with Antoine Griezmann, Wissam Ben Yedder, M’Baye Niang and Rennes team-mate Chris Mavinga, he had broken a curfew days before the Under-21s faced a crucial European Championship qualifier against Norway last month. The team lost 5-3, failed to qualify for the tournament, and, along with Mavinga, he was given a ten-day ban by Rennes; it had even been mooted that M’Vila could be banned for the whole season by the club. Les Rouges et Noirs went public in their criticism of the pair, saying in a statement that they “can no longer tolerate irresponsible behaviour from certain players."
M’Vila also faced stinging criticism from one of France’s most respected football figures, the Auxerre coach of almost half a century, Guy Roux. He labelled the behaviour of the duo “not stupid, just b******s”, adding: “It’s a total disgrace, they slammed all the values, values of togetherness and patriotism.”
Noel Le Graet, FFF President, said the organisation would look into the incident, and it was on Thursday, while Deschamps was revealing his latest national squad, that M’Vila went before the FFF’s disciplinary commission, discovering his fate hours later. But with the other four players disciplined only excluded from France duty until the start of 2014, this was a decision which was designed to send a message. France have had a number of high profile problems with their players in recent times, from Nicolas Anelka swearing at then-coach Raymond Domenech at the 2010 World Cup, Patrice Evra and Franck Ribery in hot water over the subsequent players’ strike, to the numerous indiscretions this summer which culminated with Nasri swearing at a journalist – M’Vila’s punishment is a chilling warning to any other France player not to step out of line.
In many ways, M’Vila represents everything wrong with French football at present: Hugely talented, with the potential to be up there with the very best, but held back by indiscipline and a divisive attitude. His rise has been marked by notable indiscretions, including being the victim of a robbery involving prostitutes picked up at a nightclub following an international friendly in 2011, and a night in the cells for slapping a 17-year-old in the face earlier this year. He also had a run-in with Rennes supporters who booed him during their cup defeat to lower league Quevilly last season, when his form reached a new low. Luckily for the 22-year-old, Frederic Antonetti, the Rennes coach, is determined to get the best out of M’Vila.
“I have particular affection for him. I am sure that we are going to get back the big Yann M’Vila. This experience will help him and will help us”, Antonetti said recently. It is certainly true that Rennes stand to gain most out of the whole affair. The Ligue 1 club did not expect to still have the player now, and that they can still call on M’Vila is something of a boost, even though they did bring in Jean Makoun to replace the talented midfielder. If the pair can build up a strong understanding then Rennes have one of the strongest central midfields in the French top flight.
Rennes have already saved M’Vila’s career once. In 2004, they brought him over from Mantes, where M’Vila claims he had forgotten his dream of becoming a professional footballer.
M’Vila can be one of the world’s best in his position. His defensive abilities make him a player who can provide an effective defensive shield in midfield, but with the passing ability and creativity going forward to set his team on attacks quickly. And that means the Frenchman is a particularly useful player in an age where coaches place such a premium on that crucial transition between defence and attack. If he is unable to realise his potential and develop into the world-class midfielder he is so obviously capable of being, it would be a terrible waste of one of the most talented players of the current French generation.
The Amiens-born schemer has a long way to go to convince suitors that he has grown up and matured, but he can be thankful for the support around him. Football is a forgiving sport and there are few with his talents and potential. Hatem Ben Arfa resurrected his career when ill-discipline threatened to send him into a spiral of decline. If M’Vila can use the inspiration of the way the Newcastle man has turned his career around, then there may yet be hope for one of football’s most promising talents.
