Maghnes Akliouche (23) earned his first call-up to the France squad during the September international break, however, he only played a handful of minutes – not a sufficient amount of time to make his impact felt. 

Despite being utilised sparingly by Didier Deschamps last time out, Akliouche was called up once again for this international break. As Deschamps has previously stated, he is not one for giving out just one cap, only for the player not to return to the fold.

The AS Monaco forward once again started on the bench for Les Bleus, coming on late-on in the 3-0 win over Azerbaijan on Friday night. However, it was once again a relatively timid out for the Monaco academy product. 

Ahead of Monday’s match against Iceland, Deschamps offered the forward some words of advice. “He made a good substitute appearance against Azerbaijan. He is young; he should become more self-assured,” began the France manager.

Deschamps added, “He is quite an introverted character, as (Michael) Olise was at the start, but he has lots of desire and a lot of technical ability.” Having clearly impressed Deschamps while playing for Monaco and in training, Akliouche will look to kickstart his career in Bleu and make an argument for a place in the World Cup squad.