Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger claims France could 'take over' international football

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger believes France could soon become the dominant force in international football, such is the plethora of talent available to Les Bleus.

France reached the Euro 2016 final on home turf last summer only to miss out to eventual winners Portugal.

But Didier Deschamps' side, who currently occupy sixth place in FIFA's official world rankings, have continued to develop after the 48-year-old decided to keep faith with a key core of young players.

France are on course to secure a place at the 2018 World Cup and Wenger is convinced the fierce competition for places within his homeland's squad suggests they could go on to become the team to beat at major tournaments.

"The upcoming force in international football for me is France. Every corner you can find a player who can play for the national team basically," he told Bein Sports.

"When you look at players like [Monaco's Tiemoue] Bakayoko and [Lyon's Alexandre] Lacazette who are not even selected, that was not the case 10 years ago.

"That's why I think France has an exceptional potential and maybe could take over," Wenger added.

Deschamps was unable to call upon Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba for the current international break due to injury.

But others have stepped in to fill the void left behind by the world's most expensive player and Wenger says other major nations are not currently blessed with such a range of options.

"I'm convinced, maybe because I'm French, but at the moment the best players in the world are in France.

"When you put yourself today in Deschamps' place it's a nightmare to select the first 20 best and the XI best.

"That is not a problem we have at the moment in Spain. Germany as well is still there but maybe a little bit less strong than they were in Brazil," added the Gunners boss.