M’Vila continues his rise

Lined-up at kick-off by Laurent Blanc, Yann M’Vila celebrated his fourteenth cap with France against Albania. This makes him the player who earned the most caps with “Les Bleus” while playing for Stade Rennes, overtaking Jean Prouff.
This performance is already allowing him to hold a particular place in the club’s history before attacking - maybe in the future – the 92 caps of Sylvain Wiltord (the record over a complete career for a player trained at Rennes’ Academy).

Never had a graduate of the Academy reached such a level so early. Pre-selected for the 2010 World Cup by Raymond Domenech before he even turned twenty. Since then, M’vila has come a long way, and earn huge public and media recognition.
Naturally, it wasn’t all a walk in the park, since the midfielders knew many ups but also a few downs, including a big slump during the second half of the 2010-2011 season, and a few lacklustre displays with “Les Bleus”. His first international goal in Albania last month seems to have given him a boost, triggering a very good month of September with Stade Rennes. As an emerging leader, M’Vila has once again received much media hype during the week before facing Albania yesterday evening.

«I’m not afraid anymore»

«I’m not installed, but I’ve taken a lot confidence, the Rennais admitted, interviewed by Le Parisien this Thursday. I’m not afraid anymore to try a trick or a pass, thinking “Beware, if you miss it you can lose your place”. It allows me to try more things”.
His place, M’Vila won in on the pitch, so much that he is now one of the permanent members of the teams even though he could still be qualified to play with France U21. “I am not going to lie: now, I don’t really ask myself any questions when the national coach announces his lists anymore”, he admits. Not as many thrills then, as he could have had when receiving a pre-selection for the World Cup or his first call-up for a friendly against Norway. Seemingly without any difficulty, the Rennes midfielder has brushed away the competition of Laurent Blanc, one of Laurent Blanc’s former main men. “He is a great captain, the person I like the most in the French squad. He is always giving me good advice”, M’Vila however affirms about the former Bordeaux-man.

«He has got an international destiny and I can’t see who could take his place in the French squad », Antonetti confirms, who never misses an opportunity to heap praise on his player. “At his position, there are very few players of his quality in Europe”, the Rennes manager continues, not hesitating to affirm that the young international is a “mix of several great defensive midfielders”, with the “understanding of the game of Claude Makelele, the impact power of Patrick Vieira and the passing ability of Yaya Touré».
Didier Deschamps, questioned by France Football on Friday, wasn’t short of praise for the player either, and also compared M’Vila with the Ivorian midfielder. “He reminds me of the Yaya Touré of Barcelone, with a more important execution », the Olympique de Marseille comments. Influenced by his time in Italy, the manager also compares him with a famous Italian midfielder. “He is neither a true defensive midfielder, nor a true centre midfielder, he is both at the same time. In fact, he is what the Italians call a “regista”, the first base for building the moves. The man who sets the play from behind, like Pirlo. With the only difference that M’Vila wins more balls than Pirlo and he is faster. ».

Deschamps : «he sees, and he sees before»

Visibly seduced by the Rennes player, the former French international midfielder is amazed by the precocity of his successor with “Les Bleus”. “He has something rare for his age: he sees, and he sees before. And this is the hardest thing: reading the game, being able to take the information. Then, to achieve it you need the passing quality, the technic and the execution speed required. He has it all”.
Although he quickly affirmed himself as first choice defensive midfielder, M’Vila has worked hard on his attacking input since last season. A background work initiated by Frédéric Antonetti, which started to show its effects at the beginning of 2011. Since, the midfielder has been starting to deliver a few assists, but also managed to score goals. His efforts were crowned with the goal he scored in Tirana early September. “When I scored for France in Albania, it was… magical. Yes, that’s it. Alongside my first cap, this is my best memory”, M’Vila explains.
Although it can’t be seen on the stats sheet, the Rennais is also appearing at the base of more and more attacking moves. Against Nancy, for example, he provided a deep pass to Pitroipa, who went on to assist Montaño for the first goal. In Sochaux, it was him who launched Théophile-Catherine on the left wing, for an action that ended up with Féret’s goal.

In short, for those who doubted it, M’Vila has truly become the barometer of the Stade Rennais. A team that follows the example of its leader, when he shines as well as when he slumps. Indeed, when M’Vila is blocked and unable to find a solution, the whole of Stade Rennes is struggling.
The third captain of the « Rouge et Noir » behind Kader Mangane and Romain Danzé, Yann M’Vila has got several lines of work drawn for this season. In the continuity of last year, it seems obvious that his attacking input needs to be improved again. But the young midfielder, a leader on the pitch, should also affirm himself as one of the leader in the Rennes dressing room, and above all work on the regularity and management of his efforts. “He should channel his playing volume and his energy a bit better to be more efficient”, Deschamps agrees. An effort management which will be highly important with more than fifty games expecting the Stade Rennais this season, to which the games with “Les Bleus” must be added… including, probably, the Euro at the end of the season.

Already very close to the bests in Europe, M’Vila will have to work in order to solve that issue. “With time and experience, it will come”, Deschamps predicts. Who better than him could analyse all the subtleties of the position?

- Photo : srfc.frenchwill.fr