Blanc plays down talk of contract dispute

Published: 14 Nov 2011 - 18:46:45

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Blanc plays down talk of contract dispute

On the eve of his team's friendly clash with Belgium, France coach Laurent Blanc said he has no plans "for the moment" to open negotiations to extend his current contract, which expires next year.

Blanc responded to suggestions made in sports daily L'Equipe that he was insistent on reaching terms over a new deal before the Euro 2012 finals in Poland and Ukraine while French Football Federation president Noel Le Graet was in no hurry to start talks.

"I am not expecting to speak to Mr Le Graet or anyone else from the Federation just now," he said.

"I find it improper that people should be talking about my contract when it is not something I am thinking about at all just now."

For the moment, Blanc is focusing solely on building a team that can compete at the European Championship, but he insists that there is still a lot of work to be done as the country looks to put the fiasco of their South African World Cup campaign behind them once and for all.

"We have brought in new players after everything that has happened. You need time but there isn't any at this level," he said.

"In 15 months, people expect us to be winning matches, find good players and go to the Euros to win. But we are not there yet."

After blooding several fringe players in Friday's 1-0 win over the United States at the Stade de France, Blanc is expected to revert to something closer to his strongest line-up against Belgium at the same venue.

Sochaux playmaker Marvin Martin and Marseille's Loic Remy, who scored the winner against the USA, are both set to start, with the greatest uncertainty surrounding who will start on the left wing out of Franck Ribery and Florent Malouda.

"Marvin is an interesting player when he comes on for the last 25 minutes. I hope he can have as big an impact when he starts," Blanc said of Martin.

"The same applies for Remy. On current form, they are indisputable but there are players missing who will come back in. And Martin has started games in the past and could have done better.

"Malouda has played a lot for me on the left, while Franck has played there from time to time but has not always done his best.

"But I am not more lenient with him than I am with Flo (Malouda)."

Blanc also warned his side to be wary of Belgium, who he believes are one of the most exciting young teams in Europe, even if they failed to qualify for Euro 2012.

"On paper, they are a good team. You just need to look at the teams where their players play. They all play for major European clubs," he said.

"Their coaches say that they have a great generation of players coming through. They may not have qualified for a major tournament yet but they are a strong side and they will be good opponents for us."