Get French Football News sat down with former France, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and Everton striker Louis Saha this week for a wide-ranging football chat.
In this third of a four-part interview, Louis spoke about some of the best players alongside whom he has played – and whether he thinks he would be able to get into the current France squad.
You mentioned Ledley King, who might be connected to my next question which is in two parts. You had the chance to play with incredible players like Zinedine Zidane, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney for example. I wanted to ask you first who is the best player you have played with. And then – I don’t know if King will come up here, but who is the most underrated player you played with. For me it would be Sylvain Distin.
[Smiles] Awwwww! Ah well you’ve said it – you mustn’t think that it’s just because he’s my friend that I think of Sylvain. I’ve always teased him because I’ve never understood why was never selected for the full France team. I think he’s a player who didn’t receive the same attention or recognition as other players in his position. Maybe others had the gift of the gab or knew how to promote themselves more. He had stiff competition, like William Gallas, Michaël Silvestre, Jean-Alain Boumsong and others – very good players. But I always felt that Sylvain was at the same level, he played in a huge number of Premier League games – certainly of all French players he must be among those with the most appearances. So yes, he’s definitely right up there and it’s incomprehensible to me that he never received a call-up. But hey, that’s football, sometimes we miss out on things and don’t understand why. But he’s certainly one of the most underrated players of his generation, at least as far as defenders go.
And if we’re talking about Ledley King too, I had the chance to play with him for four or five months and what impressed me the most was that he was very physically diminished but you would never have known that on the pitch because of his mentality, his ability to adapt and always perform. So Ledley King is a legend in that sense.
As for best player, without disrespecting “ZZ” – ZZ had amazing charisma, had that magic – I’m talking about pure talent.
But, after maybe Pelé for those of another generation, the most complete, the most perfect player, if you had to build the perfect footballer, it’s Cristiano Ronaldo. If you’re creating Lionel Messi, you’re going to create him within a certain tactical system. But the ideal player, with the physique, the guy who is 1m88 tall, who goes at 3,000 kilometres an hour, who has endurance, technique, strength, who has a high footballing IQ – maybe not as high as Paul Scholes or even Messi but still very high – who is strong mentally, who is a leader but who also continues to challenge himself, who will give you confidence because he always has so much self-confidence. Well, I can’t think of any other player like that. It’s impressive. For me, he’s a cyborg!
Speaking of very talented players, France at the moment is blessed with several great strikers. Does Louis Saha, at the top of his form, have a place in the current France squad?
Oh, that’s a great question! I think I have a game that is a little different from the others who are in the team today. We don’t necessarily have the traditional number 9 à la Olivier Giroud. Between Giroud, Djibril Cisse and me, let’s say, we had that number 9 role. Me, I’m not in the mode of a Hugo Ekitike, who is an incredible talent. I could see maybe Jean-Philippe Mateta in the squad. But when you see the likes of Dembouz – Ousmane Dembélé – and Kylian Mbappé as your strikers, with Marcus Thuram in the squad too – yes, I’d hope to be able to bring something too!
Louis Saha was talking exclusively to Get French Football News courtesy of ToonieBet
GFFN | Jeremy Smith
