Georginio Rutter is set to play for France’s under-21s for the first time since September 2022 after reuniting with Thierry Henry this week, but Daniel Farke has one major hope.
Thierry Henry will do everything in his power to improve Georginio Rutter’s finishing, but Daniel Farke only wants one thing from his France under-21 call-up: a clean bill of health. The Leeds United forward hasn’t played for the under-21s since September 2022, but he has two matches this week to add to his three caps.
For the first time, Rutter will report to Henry, who was appointed in August. Henry won the Premier League Golden Boot four times and scored 174 league goals in 254 Arsenal appearances during his career.
The France legend knows a thing or two about scoring goals and will have an important opportunity to examine Rutter this week. The Whites’ attacker has been excellent this season, but data suggests he should have scored five goals instead of three.
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That underperformance exemplifies why Rutter, 28, is not a finished product playing for clubs like Real Madrid after a £150 million transfer. He has a lot of room for growth and a great opportunity ahead of him.
“After so much load, I would have preferred to have him here, but it’s also, for him, a great honour,” Farke said. “I’m not sure if you work with a manager for international games if you [can] change too much and what you do is more or less [done] on the daily work in the clubs [anyway].”
“I would have preferred to have him here with us for that, but having Thierry Henry as an idol and role model is always a good choice because he was one of the most exciting players this planet has ever seen.” It’s a tremendous honor for Georgi.
“It’s also a great chance for him and I hope he will grab this chance, but even more I hope he comes back, yes if he comes back with a better end product, even better, but the most important thing for me is he comes back without injuries.”
France’s under-21s play Austria on Friday at 5.30pm UK time before hosting South Korea in Le Havre on Monday at 5.30pm UK time, four days before Leeds visit Rotherham United.
