French team: “I didn’t want to offend anyone”, Renard looks back on his aborted freelance with Ivory Coast

Hervé Renard, coach of the French women's team and at one time considered to take the lead of the Ivory Coast at the CAN, affirmed on Wednesday that he did not want to "offend" anyone.

The Blue coach, who enjoys great popularity in Ivory Coast for having won the CAN in 2015 at the head of the Elephants, was contacted to replace Jean-Louis Gasset, sacked in the middle of the African Cup of Nations , finally won by the Ivorians.

The two French and Ivorian federations discussed this unprecedented loan at the beginning of January but did not reach an agreement for “freelance”.

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Asked on the subject on Wednesday on the sidelines of the announcement of the Blue list for the Final Four of the League of Nations, Hervé Renard said during a press conference that he had experienced this in a “serene way”. “We must not reverse the roles, I was contacted” by the Ivorian federation, he explained.

“I thought about it, I know the African continent by heart, I experienced an exceptional adventure with the Ivory Coast in 2015 and the challenges are part of my career which is a little chaotic, different from that of many others,” he insisted, adding: “I don’t think I offended anyone.”

“It’s strange that we think about putting limits, barriers,” he said. I am entirely with this French women’s team.”

"It is mandatory. When you are traveling and you have a problem with your wife at a distance, when you come home, you are obliged to sit down and take stock, to give a rational and concrete explanation. This is what I am going to do with the players,” he declared, before the semi-final of the Nations League against Germany on February 23.

At the end of his contract with the Blues after the Olympic Games, Hervé Renard remained unclear about his future: “We will see what happens. I have been told things that have been said... There are many people who speak for me, often. In six months, I don’t know what can happen in life and in football, we’ll see.”