France: How Rennes produced seven players in Zidane's first squad and £260m in sales

Zinedine Zidane's first France squad contained five new faces, but another remarkable detail stood out: seven of his 23 players were developed by Rennes, whose academy has also generated almost £260m in transfer income since 2021.

Ousmane Dembele, Desire Doue, Eduardo Camavinga, Adrien Truffert, Jeremy Jacquet, Andy Diouf and Lucas Da Cunha all spent part of their development at the Breton club.

Together, they account for just over 30% of the squad selected by Zidane for France's upcoming Nations League fixtures.

None of the seven still plays for Rennes.

Instead, they are now spread across some of Europe's biggest clubs, from Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid to Liverpool.

That tells two stories about one of French football's most productive academies.

Rennes have supplied an extraordinary number of players to the national team while simultaneously turning their youth system into one of the most lucrative in Europe.

Seven Rennes graduates feature in Zidane's 23-man squad

The presence of Dembele, Doue and Camavinga is hardly surprising given their established status at international level.

What makes Zidane's first squad particularly striking is the arrival of another group of Rennes-trained players.

Jacquet, Diouf and Da Cunha are among five players receiving maiden senior France call-ups, while Truffert has also returned to the national-team picture.

It means seven products of the same academy are present in one 23-man France squad.

Rennes' success is not a sudden development.

The club were ranked as France's leading academy by the French Football Federation for three consecutive seasons before dropping to third, level with Lyon, in the 2025-26 standings behind Paris Saint-Germain and Toulouse.

Even then, Rennes achieved the maximum score across every FFF category except playing time for academy graduates in their own first team.

That weakness is, in part, a consequence of their success.

Rennes have become exceptionally good at developing players to a level where larger clubs are prepared to pay significant transfer fees for them.

The seven France internationals underline the sporting quality of that production line, but the financial figures are arguably just as impressive.

Rennes academy has generated almost £260m since 2021

According to Transfermarkt, Rennes have generated approximately €298.4m - around £260m - from the sales of academy-developed players since the 2021-22 season.

Jeremy Jacquet's move to Liverpool represents the latest major example.

The centre-back's transfer was valued at €63.6m in guaranteed money, with further bonuses potentially taking the overall package higher.

Desire Doue's switch to PSG brought Rennes around €50m, while Eduardo Camavinga joined Real Madrid for approximately €31m.

Other lucrative academy sales have included Lesley Ugochukwu to Chelsea and Mathys Tel to Bayern Munich.

The overall return places Rennes among the most profitable academies in world football over the period.

Transfermarkt's figures put only Chelsea, Manchester City and Aston Villa above Rennes among European clubs for academy-generated sales since 2021, while the French side comfortably lead their domestic rivals.

A separate CIES study earlier this year also placed Rennes among the world's five most lucrative academies over the previous five seasons.

Their model therefore extends far beyond producing the occasional elite player.

Rennes have repeatedly developed youngsters capable of reaching major European clubs, reinvested the resulting transfer income and continued producing the next generation.

There is an irony to the current situation.

Not one of the seven Rennes academy graduates selected by Zidane is still playing at Roazhon Park, meaning the club itself cannot directly benefit from having almost a third of the France squad on its books.

Yet that is also evidence of how the system works.

Rennes' academy exists not only to supply their first team but to develop players capable of reaching the highest level - and, when they eventually leave, to generate substantial value for the club.

Zidane's first France squad may be the clearest illustration yet of just how successfully Rennes have managed both parts of that equation.