Derided as nothing but a water-carrier after winning the World Cup in 1998 and receiving little public support before lifting the trophy again as coach last summer, Didier Deschamps can be forgiven for feeling his career is significantly underappreciated.
However, as the former Juventus and France midfield general turns 50, he can direct any doubters to a glittering trophy cabinet and rightly claim his place as one of the most influential footballers of his generation.
The diminutive Frenchman was a good player, not a great player admittedly, and like others with just four goals in 103 caps, suffered from an inability to draw headlines, but Deschamps’ lesser attributes were just as vital.
Coaches valued his consistency and reliability. His passing was crisp and had a knack of emerging from tackles with the ball at his feet, but, more than that, he was a coach on the pitch and, unsurprisingly, a career in the technical area awaited.
“Even as a child, he had character and leadership qualities, he was born with that gift,” said Norbert Navarro – a coach of an 11-year-old Deschamps at Bayonne.
After joining Nantes in 1983, it wasn’t long before coach Miroslav Blazevic also identified this gift and made the 19-year-old his captain and his assured performances soon took him to Olympique Marseille alongside childhood friend Marcel Desailly.
Two Ligue 1 crowns would follow shortly after before Deschamps would become the youngest captain ever to lift the Champions League trophy after a 1-0 victory over AC Milan – a feat still to be repeated by a French club.
However, with Les Olympiens in disarray following sanctions for match-fixing, Juventus swooped in to take the midfield general to Turin and initiate a change in the Old Lady’s fortunes.
With Deschamps orchestrating from central midfield, the Bianconeri won a first Serie A title since 1985 – the year of their first European Cup – before landing his hands on the Champions League once again in 1996.
Unfortunately for the Frenchman, his contribution was often lost in the glamour of the illustrious trio of Gianluca Vialli, Alessandro Del Piero and Fabrizio Ravanelli, and later superstar Zinedine Zidane.
A hat-trick of Scudetto medals, two Supercoppa Italiana titles and an Intercontinental Cup were a testament to his importance at Juventus though, not to mention, narrow final defeats in the 1995 UEFA Cup and 1997 Champions League.
Even as his career wound down – at a ridiculously early age – Deschamp claimed an FA Cup winners medal during 12 months with Premier League side, Chelsea, while his final season on the pitch at Valencia saw him almost claim a third Champions League medal.
Despite remaining on the bench versus Bayern Munich, the midfielder had played a crucial role in their journey to the final and came within penalties of joining an elite group who won the competition with three different teams.
At 32-years-old, though, you could argue that Deschamps had achieved all he could on the pitch, with a World Cup and European Championship added to his club hauls, and coaching beckoned.
After taking Monaco to the 2004 Champions League final, it was the youthful tactician the Bianconeri turned to when demoted in 2006, but despite returning them to Serie A at the first attempt and cementing his place the hearts of the fans, he resigned after several clashes with the hierarchy.
That will bother Deschamps little, as will his absence in many greatest ever player discussions and, after all, can console himself with the knowledge that he is one of only three men to claim a World Cup as player and coach.
