Léa Le Garrec is a French international who plays at FC Fleury 91 Women and has been regularly participating with the French women’s national team in various international and continental tournaments since 2023. In other words, Le Garrec has been neglected for five years following Corinne Diacres first invitation to the national team in 2017. She missed the opportunity to participate in tournaments like the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019 and UEFA Womens Euro 2022 and was restricted to playing with her team only.
But following her excellent run of form during the last few seasons and especially the appointment of a new head coach for the national team (Hervé Renard instead of Corinne Diacre), Le Garrec finally got the opportunity she needed to showcase her talent to the world when Renard relied on her and added her to the 2023 FIFA Womens World Cup squad.
It is important to note that Le Garrec did not disappoint and proved her worth by scoring against Panama, knowing that she was not used as a starting player during this tournament. The match against Panama was the only time she was a starter during this tournament.
Following the 2023 FIFA Womens World Cup, Renard did not give up on Le Garrec and called her up for the events/gamedays that followed, including the 2023/24 UEFA Womens Nations League. This represents a good sign for Le Garrec and a source of motivation to continue improving her performance to perform well during the upcoming tournaments. She deserves to be called up and perhaps even be played as a starter during Switzerland’s UEFA Womens Euro 2025.
Le Garrec started her journey in football in 2007 at Évreux when she was 16 years old. She quickly moved to Montigny after two seasons and was able to attract the attention of a big team like PSG to play with them from 2010 to 2012.
Afterwards, Le Garrec’s career continued to take extra directions as she left PSG to join EA Guingamp for two seasons, had an experience at US Saint-Malo and then returned to EA Guingamp from 2017 to 2019. That year, she marked her first transfer outside France when she had the opportunity to play in the WSL with Brighton. But at the end of her first season at Brighton, Le Garrec decided not to renew her contract in June 2020 and returned to the Division 1 Féminine but with the colours of FC Fleury 91 this time.
Le Garrec’s time at Fleury has been relatively her most successful and stable period in her career so far. She has played with them since 2020 and has been a key player for the team, contributing with a great number of appearances, goals, assists, and convincing performances.
Nevertheless, French media have been reporting that Le Garrec will not renew her contract, which will expire at the seasons end. Therefore, this opens the door for her to have a different new experience. At the same time, she is much more mature and experienced in all aspects, potentially leading to an even better experience than the one she underwent at Fleury.
In this tactical analysis and scout report on one of the best-performing French midfielders at the moment, Le Garrec, we will explore her possible roles and positions within her team’s tactics and her playmaking attributes. The analysis will also include a section for her goalscoring abilities and identifying the teams that could best suit Le Garrec starting next season.
Positions, roles and playmaking abilities
Le Garrec has often been used as a right-central midfielder and a right-defensive midfielder. At the same time, she played as an advanced playmaker on numerous occasions and as a right winger on some occasions (the most important one being the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup game against Brazil).
Moreover, there were times when Le Garrec was used as a left winger at Fleury and, more importantly, as a striker in Brighton’s 4-4-2 back in 2020, for instance. She played against some of England’s big teams, such as Tottenham and Manchester United, while being a striker, and this proves how versatile and tactically fluid Le Garrec can be.
This ability to adapt to various positions on the pitch makes Le Garrec a very wanted player since she proposed many solutions to numerous issues. The following graphic highlights this ability to move in various areas on the pitch while respecting her defensive duties and positioning.
Le Garrec’s roles on the pitch are numerous. She is often required to cover for the defensive line, especially when playing as a defensive midfielder, be the first to get the ball from the defence during the build-up phase, use her excellent long-passing techniques in favour of the team while timing them well to surprise opposing defences and meet the movements of strikers.
Being the captain at Fleury makes Le Garrec’s presence even more important, as she is often required to communicate with her teammates regarding movements, covering and even motivation.
In addition, Le Garrec’s attacking roles include set-piece taking since she proved some excellent efficiency and skills in executing set-pieces previously, shooting from distance, and being always present to be first on second balls.
With 61.8% passing accuracy, Le Garrec can be considered one of the most efficient passers in the D1 Arkema. She provides numerous assists and key passes per season, especially using long passes.
The following assist example highlights Le Garrec’s ability to quickly scan her teammates’ movements without the ball and provide key long passes into space to meet their runs. This technique has usually been fruitful for Le Garrec and for Fleury in general as numerous goals were scored mainly thanks to Le Garrec’s creative long passing.
In addition to her long passes using the right foot, Le Garrec relies heavily on her left foot and has already been able to provide assists using it, which makes it even more complicated for defenders to predict her passing timing or destination.
The following left-footed pass was exe
