Blanc in no rush to decide on permanent captain

France coach Laurent Blanc said on Sunday that he would decide on a permanent captain at the end of the Euro 2012 qualifiers.

The 44-year-old was speaking the day after his side had beaten Romania 2-0 to make it two successive wins in the qualifiers after opening with an embarrassing 1-0 home defeat to Belarus.

Blanc – who replaced the disgraced Raymond Domenech when the latter stood down after the catastrophic World Cup finals campaign in June – handed the captain’s armband to Alou Diarra for the Romania clash.

However, Blanc – who cut his managerial teeth with Bordeaux delivering them the 2009 league title – said that Bordeaux midfielder Diarra had performed well in the role but there were also other candidates who could be tried out as skipper.

The captain’s position has been vacant since Patrice Evra was suspended for five matches over his role in the World Cup debacle.

“The decision to rotate the captaincy was not a random one but one I took after thinking about it for a long time, in order to see who could fill the post best,” said Blanc, a member of the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 winning squads.

“But at the same time we are not going to rotate the captaincy between 11 players because there are some who are not capable of doing it.

“There are others who do not want it and which would distract them from playing.

“The captaincy will rotate between three to five players and after that I will take a decision at the end of the qualifiers.

“Time is on our side.”

However, Blanc admitted that should someone really stand out before then he would have no hesitation in naming him permanent captain.

“Obviously if someone is exceptional in the role we will not wait,” he said.

“For the moment, though, we are observing and analysing.

“It is true that Alou (Diarra) filled this role very well but I have nothing to reproach either Philippe (Mexes) nor Flo (Malouda) and they will also be candidates.”

Diarra’s second successive match in charge – after Mexes and then Malouda had a match each in charge both ending in defeat – earned the thumbs up from fellow midfielder Abou Diaby after being in charge for two victories which sees the French top of their group after three matches.

“He is the legitimate captain, he fills the role perfectly.”