Blanc reveals shortlist for France captaincy

Laurent Blanc yesterday revealed a five-man shortlist for the captaincy of the French national team.

Blanc had been expected to name a full-time skipper, but instead said that Bordeaux’s Alou Diarra, Lyon’s Hugo Lloris, Eric Abidal of Barce-lona, Milan new boy Philippe Mexes and Chelsea’s Flo-rent Malouda were all in contention.

Blanc has been rotating the captaincy since last summer, when he took charge of the side, but wants a first-choice captain to be in place for the end of the Euro 2012 qualification programme.

“I’m not going to announce the name of the captain but four or five players who will grow in importance: Lloris, Abidal, Diarra, Malouda, and I hope to add Mexes when he returns from injury,” said Blanc.

“Nobody has emerged and we’ll see if someone manages to do that in the squad. I’m waiting to see the transfers a bit, which could change things.”

France signed off for the season with a 1-0 friendly win in Poland on Thursday, following a 4-1 defeat of Ukraine and a 1-1 draw in Belarus in their final Euro 2012 qualify-ing match of the 2010-11 campaign.

Holding midfielder Diarra, who worked under Blanc at Bordeaux, is widely tipped to be named full-time captain, having worn the armband seven times since Blanc replaced Raymond Domenech as coach in August 2010.