Football loves a tidy rise, but Esteban Lepaul's path to France was anything but tidy. It has been built on rejection, grief, persistence and, finally, the sort of output that forces a manager to pay attention. On 25 September, against Turkey, the Rennes forward made his national-team debut. That was not a sentimental gesture. It was the reward for a player who has turned 21 goals and 5 assists in 34 league games into a serious case for inclusion.
The basic numbers explain the call-up well enough. Last season, Lepaul did not merely have a good run; he produced the kind of season that drags a club forward and changes a player's standing overnight. Rennes paid around 13.5 million euros to sign him for a reason. They were buying form, confidence and end product. They were also buying a forward who had already proved he could keep climbing after Angers, after promotion and after his first season in the top division brought 9 goals. The leap to France was the next logical step.
The story behind the breakthrough
The harder truth is that Lepaul's rise was never straightforward. In 2020, Lyon let him go while he was still in the academy. At the same time, Fabrice Le Paul was involved in a serious road accident, and his family had to make the devastating decision to switch off life support. That is the kind of year that can split a career in two. For some players, it becomes the moment the dream fades. For Lepaul, it seems to have sharpened everything.
That matters because France is not short of talent. Under Zinedine Zidane and with Kylian Mbappé setting the tone, the national team has started strongly enough to make every new name feel like a genuine statement. Lepaul's debut against Turkey therefore carried a simple message: this is not a token call-up for a nice story. It is recognition that the production has become too strong to ignore.
There is still a long way to go before one debut becomes a permanent place in the squad. France will not hand out responsibility just because the narrative is appealing. But that is not really the point. The point is that Lepaul has earned the chance to be judged on football alone now, and that is the clearest sign yet that his climb has become real.
From Lyon's academy exit to promotion with Angers, from 9 top-flight goals to a 21-goal season for Rennes, this has been a career built on refusing to stay where others left him. France have finally noticed. Given what he has been through, and what he has produced, it is hard to argue they have arrived late.
