France World Cup analysis: Who should start in Les Bleus’ forward line?

France manager Didier Deschamps has a wonderful problem at the World Cup this summer.

Les Bleus have a plethora of attacking talent in their World Cup squad and it’s up to Deschamps to decide how to fit them all in.

It may feel like there are obvious options, but it will be hard to settle on a guaranteed attacking lineup.

So, who are the best forwards for France at the World Cup? We used our Comparison Matrix to assess the options.

Striker

It feels like there is an obvious choice here. But decisions elsewhere could also influence who leads the line for France. Again, such is the attacking talent France have in their squad. But based on the possibilities, Kylian Mbappe, Jean-Philippe Mateta and Marcus Thuram are the most-viable canditates as striker.

It’s no surprise to see Mbappe dominate a lot of the key striker metrics. But he doesn’t have it all his own way. The Real Madrid striker does average the most shots and shots on target per 90 minutes when looking at the 2025-26 league season. He averaged 3.9 shots per 90 (excluding blocks) with 2.2 hitting the target. Thuram hit the target with 1.4 of his 2.7 shots per 90, while Mateta’s 2.3 efforts resulting in 1.3 on target.

Mbappe led for goals too at a very impressive 0.9 per 90, despite his perceived struggles at Real Madrid, ahead of Thuram’s 0.7 and Mateta’s 0.5. But Mateta did have the best conversion rate, scoring with 19.05% of his shots in the Premier League. Thuram again came in second with 17.57%, while Mbappe had to settle for bottom — still with a respetable 17.12%.

Mbappe was also the most creative of the strikers, although that was aided by his role at Real Madrid. He created 2.3 chances per 90 in La Liga, more than both Thuram and Mateta combined. But Thuram did average more assists. Thuram also won more fouls per 90 and put up a recent number of touches in the opposition box at 7.9. Of course, Mbappe won that one too with 9.4 touches in the opposition box per 90.

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Wingers

This is where the big questions will lie. Especially as Mbappe and Thuram can both play on the wing, and may do at times. But we won’t consider them for this specific comparison. The main options are Ousmane Dembele (who can also lead the line), Michael Olise, Bradley Barcola and Desire Doue.

Now, Dembele did play mostly as a striker for Paris Saint-Germain in Ligue 1 in 2025-26. So some of his numbers are impacted by that. But he has a similar impact on the wings. Dembele scored 0.9 goals per 90 in Ligue 1 last season, the best of this attacking bunch. But the others certainly held their own. Both Olise and Barcola averaged 0.6 goals per 90, while Doue wasn’t far behind on 0.5. And Olise was the most dangerous with 2.0 shots on target per 90.

Olise was all about the creativity. He was the only player in Europe’s top five leagues to both score and assist 15+ goals in 2025-26. His assist numbers worked out to 0.8 per 90, ahead of Dembele’s per 90. But Dembele did create more chances, with 3.5 per 90 to Olise’s 3.1. Both Barcola and Doue struggled to reach those numbers, but that’s because they had to contend with Dembele in club football — not to mention Khvicha Kvaratskehlia too.

Olise also posed a bigger threat to opposition defences when dribbling. He completed 2.6 take-ons per 90 and won 2.3 fouls, proving there was only one way to stop him. However, Dembele did have the better take-on success rate, completing 61.54% of his attempts. All four will no doubt start games across the World Cup, and can do damage when coming off the bench in other matches. It’s scary for opponents.

No.10

Again, there are players in the above comparisons who can also play in the No.10, should Deschamps stick with his favoured 4-2-3-1. And both Rayan Cherki and Maghnes Akliouche can play on the wing. But this feels like the main battle for the No.10 role.

It took him some time, but Cherki really found his feet in Manchester City‘s team in 2025-26. And Akliouche had a strong season in Ligue 1. Cherki was wonderful, though. He leads a lot of the key No.10 metrics in this matchup, especially creatively. The Man City man created 3.1 chances per 90 in the Premier League, which resulted in 0.7 assists. In totals, only Bruno Fernandes (21) provided more assists in the Premier League than Cherki in 2025-26.

Akliouche wasn’t too far off the top with his assist numbers. Although nine players provided more assists than Akliouche’s six in Ligue 1 in 2025-26, the top two only provided nine. So it was a close battle. His assists came from 1.7 chances created per 90, so those numbers were slightly lower than Cherki. But Akliouche did slightly edge Cherki for his 0.8 shots per 90, to the Man City man’s 0.7.

Overall on creativity, though, Cherki comes out on top. He made more through-balls per 90 (1.5) and had a slightly better passing accuracy, completing 86.45% of his attempts. Cherki also completed an impressive 2.6 take-ons per 90, and won 1.8 fouls. He was incredibly tough to stop in that No.10 role for Man City. He’ll likely be the starter, but Akliouche provides a good rotational option.

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