World Cup

Mats Hummels amazed by France's strength in depth

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 12 November 2017

Germany defender Mats Hummels says that he has "never seen anything like" the number of options France boss Didier Deschamps has to choose from.

Germany defender Mats Hummels has talked up France's chances of winning next year's World Cup, admitting that their "incredible breadth" of options in something that he has never seen before.

Les Blues are backed as second favourites with most bookmakers to go all the way in Russia, while defending champions Germany are viewed as frontrunners to retain their crown.

Hummels is amazed by the amount of quality in the France squad ahead of Tuesday's meeting between the two sides in Cologne, with a conveyor belt of youngsters emerging through the ranks in recent times - Kylian Mbappe just one of the teenage talents available to boss Didier Deschamps.

"They have an incredible breadth of young players, I've never seen anything like that at the level," he told Bild am Sonntag. "We have that too, but in terms of standing, the young players, they are one step further.

"A sensational team and a top favourite for the tournament. Even if two people fail, they have people to pick from at every position, which is really fascinating."

Germany beat France in the last eight en route to winning the World Cup three years ago, while the 1998 champions exacted revenge at Euro 2016 when making it to the final.