Crystal Palace’s Jean-Philippe Mateta remains hopeful of receiving a call up from France manager Didier Deschamps.
The striker gave an interview to Téléfoot, relayed by Le10 Sport, where he talked about his big dream of representing Les Bleus.
Mateta has excelled for Crystal Palace ever since Oliver Glasner took charge at the club in February. To put it in context, the 27-year-old has scored 17 goals and registered two assists from 20 games for the Eagles under the Austrian’s orders.
His fine displays for the Premier League side convinced Thierry Henry to include him in the France U23 squad for the Olympics. Henry guided them to win the silver medal in Paris, before stepping down from the post last month.
The Crystal Palace star is hopeful that the former Arsenal man has talked about him to Deschamps. Mateta has represented France at U19, U21 and U23 level, but he’s yet to receive a call up from the senior team.
“Has Thierry Henry spoken to Didier Deschamps about me? I hope so,” he said.
“It’s always been in the back of my mind. It’s really a childhood dream, a shirt that I’ve wanted to wear since I was little. And I know that to get there, you need a lot of work and a lot of results because the competition is tough.”
France will take on Israel and Belgium in the UEFA Nations League in October. Mateta will be hoping to make it to Deschamps’ squad for next month’s international break.
