THE prospect of welcoming even more of his fellow countrymen to the Reebok ranks brought a smile to Youri Djorkaeff's face.

"I think the French are good," said the Wanderers ace with a good helping of national pride as he cast an eye over the latest batch of trialists to arrive at the Euxton training camp.

He didn't know much about the Nantes striker Pierre-Yves Andre or the Lyon central defender Florent Laville but made the point: "They come from good clubs."

Not that Youri is aiming to influence Sam Allardyce in any way. "I don't know what the manager wants and he doesn't need me to tell him," he insists.

"I'm sure he has 20 video tapes about this player and that player - he knows his job."

What Djorkaeff does know is that the French connection can offer clubs like Wanderers some extremely rich pickings.

"The standard at club level has fallen," he explains. "The game in France is like a train - the national team is the locomotive at the front and that is going well but behind it the club scene is not so good. There are financial problems and there are no big transfers any more, so many players leave."