France: How Rennes produced seven players in Zidane's first squad and £260m in sales

Zinedine Zidane's archetypal France squad contained 5 caller faces, but different singular item stood out: 7 of his 23 players were developed by Rennes, whose academy has besides generated astir £260m successful transportation income since 2021.

Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Eduardo Camavinga, Adrien Truffert, Jeremy Jacquet, Andy Diouf and Lucas Da Cunha each spent portion of their improvement astatine the Breton club.

Together, they relationship for conscionable implicit 30% of the squad selected by Zidane for France's upcoming Nations League fixtures.

None of the 7 inactive plays for Rennes.

Instead, they are present dispersed crossed immoderate of Europe's biggest clubs, from Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid to Liverpool.

That tells 2 stories astir 1 of French football's astir productive academies.

Rennes person supplied an bonzer fig of players to the nationalist squad portion simultaneously turning their younker strategy into 1 of the astir lucrative successful Europe.

Seven Rennes graduates diagnostic successful Zidane's 23-man squad

The beingness of Dembele, Doue and Camavinga is hardly astonishing fixed their established presumption astatine planetary level.

What makes Zidane's archetypal squad peculiarly striking is the accomplishment of different radical of Rennes-trained players.

Jacquet, Diouf and Da Cunha are among 5 players receiving maiden elder France call-ups, portion Truffert has besides returned to the national-team picture.

It means 7 products of the aforesaid academy are contiguous successful 1 23-man France squad.

Rennes' occurrence is not a abrupt development.

The nine were ranked arsenic France's starring academy by the French Football Federation for 3 consecutive seasons earlier dropping to third, level with Lyon, successful the 2025-26 standings down Paris Saint-Germain and Toulouse.

Even then, Rennes achieved the maximum people crossed each FFF class but playing clip for academy graduates successful their ain archetypal team.

That weakness is, successful part, a effect of their success.

Rennes person go exceptionally bully astatine processing players to a level wherever larger clubs are prepared to wage important transportation fees for them.

The 7 France internationals underline the sporting prime of that accumulation line, but the fiscal figures are arguably conscionable arsenic impressive.

Rennes academy has generated astir £260m since 2021

According to Transfermarkt, Rennes person generated astir €298.4m - astir £260m - from the income of academy-developed players since the 2021-22 season.

Jeremy Jacquet's determination to Liverpool represents the latest large example.

The centre-back's transportation was valued astatine €63.6m successful guaranteed money, with further bonuses perchance taking the wide bundle higher.

Desire Doue's power to PSG brought Rennes astir €50m, portion Eduardo Camavinga joined Real Madrid for astir €31m.

Other lucrative academy income person included Lesley Ugochukwu to Chelsea and Mathys Tel to Bayern Munich.

The wide instrumentality places Rennes among the astir profitable academies successful satellite shot implicit the period.

Transfermarkt's figures enactment lone Chelsea, Manchester City and Aston Villa supra Rennes among European clubs for academy-generated income since 2021, portion the French broadside comfortably pb their home rivals.

A abstracted CIES survey earlier this twelvemonth besides placed Rennes among the world's 5 astir lucrative academies implicit the erstwhile 5 seasons.

Their exemplary truthful extends acold beyond producing the occasional elite player.

Rennes person repeatedly developed youngsters susceptible of reaching large European clubs, reinvested the resulting transportation income and continued producing the adjacent generation.

There is an irony to the existent situation.

Not 1 of the 7 Rennes academy graduates selected by Zidane is inactive playing astatine Roazhon Park, meaning the nine itself cannot straight payment from having astir a 3rd of the France squad connected its books.

Yet that is besides grounds of however the strategy works.

Rennes' academy exists not lone to proviso their archetypal squad but to make players susceptible of reaching the highest level - and, erstwhile they yet leave, to make important worth for the club.

Zidane's archetypal France squad whitethorn beryllium the clearest illustration yet of conscionable however successfully Rennes person managed some parts of that equation.