The next morning, Julien went to the airport with De Bruyne and others. They were reporting to their national teams.
This time, he wasn't going to Clairefontaine alone. Kanté was coming too.
Bastia was now one of the Ligue 1 teams with more international players.
Every international break, Hadzibegic worried anxiously. If prayer worked, he'd be willing to pray at church 24/7 during these periods: please don't let his players get injured.
At 11 AM. Julien arrived at Clairefontaine.
When reporting, he met Deschamps, who showed a smile. "I watched your match yesterday. Another win. Your season's not bad—you have a shot at the title."
Julien shook his head. "The season is long. Who can say for sure?"
Deschamps ignored Julien's modesty and continued, "But if you want to fight on both league and Europa League fronts, your current bench definitely won't work. It'd be best to bring in reinforcements in the winter window. Of course, that's just my view as a manager."
He turned to look at the shy Kanté behind Julien. This was Kanté's first call-up to the national team.
"This is N'Golo?"
Julien pushed Kanté forward. "An absolute defensive midfielder."
Deschamps was noncommittal. After greeting Kanté, he let Julien and the others go rest well. Today was assembly day with no training scheduled.
Giroud had arrived too. Julien embraced him with a smile, introduced Kanté, then continued asking, "How does it feel at Arsenal? This season you might have a chance to compete for the title."
Giroud shook his head frankly and said. "It's hard. Ferguson's Manchester United is still dominant. Many Arsenal fans thought Ferguson would retire before this season, but who knew he'd manage another year. You know, Manchester United with Ferguson is like the French team with you—it's different."
The three walked toward the dormitories together.
On the way, Giroud mentioned, "After watching several of your matches, Dibu is willing to join you at Bastia on loan in the winter window. For him to leave his girlfriend for a remote island—that's totally because your ability attracted him."
"Also, I saw British media reports that Ferguson might continue managing Manchester United, but the condition is that United can sign you."
Speaking of this, Giroud asked Julien, "You really have no plans to come to England? Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea are all very interested in you. I heard Manchester City is also willing to offload Nasri and bring you in. After all, Nasri couldn't even compete with you in the national team—they definitely want you too."
Julien shook his head. "I really haven't considered these things. Right now, I just want to lead my team and compete for the title. You know, I'm the captain. How can a captain start thinking about leaving before the season even ends, right?"
"True."
Julien and Giroud put their things in their room. Kanté was in another room.
Julien brought Kanté to greet all the other teammates who'd arrived at their dorms, helping Kanté integrate into the team early.
During lunch, Julien ran into Varane, Griezmann, Lacazette and others.
"Hey, Raphaël!"
"Julien!"
Julien and Varane embraced with laughter, then hugged and greeted Griezmann beside him.
Julien invited them to dine together. Everyone chatted, playing in different leagues meant there were always fresh topics to discuss. Exchanging various gossip and such.
"You guys are heading to Le Havre tomorrow, right? Who are you playing the day after?"
Julien suddenly asked casually. It was just a random question, but Varane's answer instantly triggered a keyword in his mind.
"Yeah, tomorrow we're going to Le Havre's new home stadium to play Norway U21. First leg—we must show the Norwegians what we're made of!"
Norway!
Julien suddenly remembered—he'd gotten the timing wrong! Griezmann's suspension wasn't in December, but in October. Even tomorrow night!
Griezmann picked up from Varane. "We have a 7-1 record in the group stage, ranked first. As long as we beat Norway over two legs, we can advance directly to the Euro U21 finals without playing playoffs."
They kept chatting. Julien was thinking about how to handle this situation.
During the conversation, he appropriately inserted into the topic, "Anyway, everyone's free this afternoon, want to do some extra training together?"
Giroud laughed. "You—no wonder the media calls you a training fanatic. They're always capturing footage of you training. Sure, let's go."
Varane, Griezmann and the others all agreed.
In their view, building a good relationship with Julien, the national team's core player—that was an absolute steal! Who knows, maybe Julien would mention them to Deschamps someday, and they'd get called up to the national team.
Wasn't Kanté, this "sidekick" next to Julien, the perfect example? Last season he was playing anonymously in Ligue 2, hadn't even been selected for any French youth teams. This season, after becoming Julien's teammate, he just walked into the senior national team!
After lunch, they hung around Clairefontaine's rest area for a bit.
At 1:30 PM, they all geared up and headed to the training ground. If Clairefontaine had an abundance of anything, it was pitches and training grounds.
Calling it training—it wasn't much different from playing around. Isn't that what football is? It was originally an entertainment activity meant to bring joy.
Julien practiced with his weak foot. He even did a one-on-two confrontation with Varane and Griezmann on the training ground.
Julien's feet were very nimble. Although his speed couldn't shake off Varane, his constant feints made both of them hesitant to commit. Then he suddenly burst through Griezmann's side and blasted a shot with his right foot.
The ball flew off target.
"Hahaha."
Everyone laughed. Julien shrugged helplessly. He still needed to practice that weak foot.
Julien sat to the side with Varane and Griezmann, watching Kanté, Giroud, and Lacazette playing keepaway.
Julien deliberately steered the conversation toward extra training.
He explained, "I almost destroyed my future because of disciplinary issues. In prison I realized the window of a professional career is too short—I can't waste it on irrelevant things."
Varane and Griezmann both knew about Julien's story. They truly admired him.
Julien then covered his mouth, as if sharing a secret, and whispered to them, "This training camp, the coaching staff at all levels is watching very closely. It's best to stay at the hotel at night and not go out during camp. If you get caught at a time like this, those old men at the federation won't go easy—they're looking for an opportunity to crack down on young players."
Julien added another line. "Inside the federation, some people think young players are too flashy. They want to make an example of someone."
"What? That harsh?!"
Varane and Griezmann reacted as if they'd heard incredible gossip. They were very surprised.
It seemed they felt that within the French Football Federation; some storm they didn't know about was brewing.
Was the French national team about to undergo another upheaval?
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