It feels as if I have known Didier Deschamps all my life. We played together at FC Nantes as kids in their academy and we shared a room then and continued to do so as we both climbed the international ladder in the French junior sides – he was my captain when we played in the European Championship for the under-14s, and then when we were with the U15s, the U17s and the U21s.
We both ended up moving to Marseille and we won the Champions League there together – to this day the only success in Europe’s most prestigious competition for a French club. We moved to Italy, I with Milan and Didier with Juventus and we ended up playing together again in England, of course. I admit I was a bit involved in his transfer to Chelsea and we won the FA Cup together in 2000 along with George Weah, of course. I had spoken to Colin Hutchinson, then the director of football, about both of them.
I am godfather to his son, Dylan, and he is godfather to my son Virgil. So, of course, you will not catch me saying anything negative about my friend Didier. But that is also because there is not much bad to say about him even if you wanted to.
Some complain in France that the national team is not spectacular enough or moan that Didier could be more fun in his communication. Well, for a start, we are in the World Cup final - and our game against Argentina was perhaps the most exciting of the tournament.
Didier, though, has built a team to do a job, to win the competition, not to score points in a beauty competition. And if you think he is not funny, maybe you missed the TV show I work on in France when, after the semi-final win over Belgium, we had him with us on a live link-up.
I started to congratulate him and to formulate a question only to be interrupted by Didier, laughing, who told me to stop talking to him as if I were a journalist. “It’s me, Dédé, your old pal – talk to me normally!” he said. At the end of our conversation I told him to keep the players under control ahead of the final and he replied: “I managed to keep you out of trouble 20 years ago, so I don’t think this bunch will cause me any headaches!”
Didier was always mature for his age. You might find it hard to believe now because he is not the biggest guy around, but when he was a young teenager he was actually physically ahead of most of his generation. We caught up with him, of course, and then most of us overtook him. But even though he did not have the same athletic qualities that I possessed, say, he was always rigorous in the way he thought about the game, always ready to make the sacrifices to get to the top, always a step ahead.
After an amazing playing career where he won everything going, he has succeeded where many fail. It is much tougher than people might think for a former player to become a coach, a manager – at least a very successful one. Think about it. How many examples are there compared with the number of former great players you have grown up watching ?
I respect his energy and will-power. He is an all-or-nothing guy. Didier cannot do anything half-heartedly. If he is going to take on a challenge, it will be with everything he has, 100%, every day. You know with Didier you are getting someone who will give you his all.
He has the obsession, the love of the game that every manager needs to be successful. And now he has a great opportunity to make history and join Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer in the very elite club of those who won the World Cup and then came back and won it as a manager.
This France team is very much his team. I think it was not easy for him at first because Didier is the kind of guy who wants to be with his players all the time. I think it was tough for him to get used to the idea of no longer having that full-time involvement that you have as a club manager. He has always been interested in the psychology of our sport, the importance of knowing your teammates or, today, knowing your players.
When you are with a club, like when he was with Marseille and when he won the French league with them, he could work daily with his players, get to know what makes each one of them tick, how to get the best out of them individually and collectively. I know he misses that day-to-day interaction but he has adapted. He has had to get used to seeing his players turning up two or three days before an international game and then flying off just hours after the match is over.
It was tough for him but he has great expertise, great intelligence. People say he is pragmatic and I guess that is true in the sense he will strive to get the best out of every situation, whatever has happened, whoever is out injured or off-form. He is precise, demanding but capable of listening to his players. There is a generation gap, of course, but he is smart enough to bridge it when it is necessary and put up barriers at other times.
He likes to control everything around him, which is why he builds his support staff so meticulously. It is not easy to work with him because, if he feels he is not totally in control he will walk away. We have seen it in the past at Juventus and at Marseille. Didier has character, and with his record as a player and now as a manager he knows what he wants and expects his employer to back him all the way, which I totally understand. He will not stand being undermined and will not suffer fools gladly. At the same time he is modern in the sense that he is always ready to evolve, take on new ideas and move forward.
This France squad has different qualities from the one he played with and became world champion with back in 1998. Today’s France team has less experience, for example. A number of us in 1998 were around 30 years old whereas today they are much younger and bring other qualities to the table. They have grown up in a totally different culture and with different values but Didier has shown he can cope with all that and still retain their respect. Losing the Euro 2016 final to Portugal was very tough for him. He thought he had the right players to go all the way but France fell short, fell at the final hurdle and he understood immediately he would have to get rid of certain players and build again.
This is where Didier is strong, insightful and, yes, pragmatic. Two years ago we did not know we would have Kylian Mbappé today. Only two months ago we thought Benjamin Mendy and Djibril Sidibé would be starters at full-back but Didier picked Lucas Hernández and Benjamin Pavard as back-up and they have been two of the great success stories of France’s tournament.
Is that luck? I prefer to think Didier is smart and has an eye for a player. He has managed to turn the inexperience and insouciance of some of the younger players into a real strength. Didier was always a leader but a leader through the collective. He has always known how to gee his teammates up and help get the best out of them. And now he is showing the world his ability to do that as a manager. There is only one more game to go. One more win and the second star will be on the France shirt.
I am confident that, 20 years after Didier won the World Cup as France captain, he will lift the trophy again as our manager.