‘I chose France for the high level’ – Yacine Adli explains his decision to reject Algeria | OneFootball

Yacine Adli (23) has further explained his decision to play for France over Algeria in a public statement released on X (formerly known as Twitter) as well as in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport.

The French-Algerian midfielder had represented France in the under-age brackets but had long been coveted by the Algerian national side and was one of the key targets that they hoped they could convince to switch allegiances.

However, this looked to be in vain when the AC Milan midfielder publicly stated his intentions to represent France on the 6th of March. Adli stated, “As a player, I want to play at the top level, so of course, playing for France is my primary objective. I’ll explain my decision after, but it’s not the time.”

The time for his explanation finally arrived and Adli provided some more detail to the Italian newspaper on why he wanted to pick France over Algeria. “I’m a supporter of Algeria but as a player I chose France. I chose France for the high level.”

‘I preferred to be honest and transparent’ – Yacine Adli

On X, he explained that this did not mean that he thought Algeria was a low-level. “I said my objective was to play at the highest level which does not mean that the Algerian selection is not a very high level but simply that the challenge is higher for me to want to join the French team.”

Adli continued, “I preferred to be honest and transparent about my decision rather than feign indecision, I’m just an ordinary player with goals and whether I succeed in achieving them or not will not change anything about me as a person.”

The midfielder finished by acknowledging that his actions had definitively closed the doors on representing Algeria, even if his call-up to the French side never appears. “With my declarations, they closed no matter what [happens].”

GFFN | Nick Hartland