The China Mail - France get ready to face 'lost treasure' Bouaddi in Morocco World Cup clash

So on Thursday the teenager will start for Morocco against the French in the World Cup quarter-finals.

The story of the 18-year-old Lille player is a remarkable one -- from captaining the France Under-21s three months ago to pledging his senior international allegiance to Morocco ahead of this World Cup, and now plotting the downfall of the country of his birth.

When France coach Didier Deschamps was asked about Bouaddi in March, he indicated it was too soon for a call-up.

"Of course we are following his performances. There is a lot of competition. It will be his choice to make," Deschamps said then.

Instead of going with France to the USA for a friendly against Brazil, he stayed behind and skippered the Under-21s against Luxembourg.

Morocco sensed their chance, and swooped to tie down a player destined for a huge future, with the promise that he would go straight into their World Cup squad.

Last December, he told sports daily L'Equipe that his dream was "to win the World Cup, the Champions League, win everything".

He made an impressive World Cup debut against Brazil on June 13, and has not looked back. On Thursday, from his position at the base of Morocco's midfield, Bouaddi will try to stop Michael Olise from pulling the strings and feeding Kylian Mbappe.

France will be hoping they are not left to regret letting Bouaddi -- who grew up near Paris in a family of Moroccan origin, and is pursuing a degree in mathematics -- slip away.

"Bouaddi is a talent we've followed for many years...we know that in his age group, there's no other Bouaddi. It's a significant loss for our federation, but it's his choice," Hubert Fournier, the French Football Federation's technical director, told The Athletic.

Bouaddi was barely 16 when he made his Lille debut, and produced a midfield masterclass in a Champions League win over Real Madrid on his 17th birthday in late 2024.

"He understood that he was on the extended list. But we couldn't offer him the opportunity to go to the World Cup right now," Fournier added when asked about Bouaddi making France's senior squad.

Hence the headline in Tuesday's edition of L'Equipe, describing him as "the lost treasure".

- New generation -

There have been 99 French-born players involved at this World Cup. Morocco, meanwhile, have become extremely adept at securing talented players who were born in different countries but were eligible to represent them.

Ten of their starting line-up in the last-16 win over Canada were born abroad, while coach Mohamed Ouahbi was born and raised in Belgium.

Morocco have a top-performing academy near the capital Rabat, and won last year's Under-20 World Cup.

But they accelerated their push to secure the services of top foreign-born talent earlier this year, after Ouahbi became coach.

He took over from Walid Regragui, who departed in the weeks after the chaotic Africa Cup of Nations finale against Senegal.

Ouahbi's World Cup squad features several others born and raised in France, including centre-back Issa Diop.

From Toulouse, he represented France up to Under-21 level, and played alongside Mbappe in the team that won the Under-19 Euros in 2016.

Diop was eligible for Morocco through his mother and made his Atlas Lions debut in March aged 29.

At the time, comments he made in an interview with Canal Plus in 2019 resurfaced, when he said playing for a country other than France would be a choice made "by default".

But he has established himself as a pivotal player for Morocco, and scored their equaliser against the Netherlands in the last 32.

There is also midfielder Neil El Aynaoui, born in France and the son of Moroccan ex-tennis player Younes El Aynaoui.

Ouahbi is overseeing the arrival of a new generation.

Only four of those who lined up against Canada in the last 16 also started the 2022 semi-final defeat against France -- a result they hope Bouaddi in particular can help them avenge.

H.Au--ThChM