After the rain comes the sunshine. Sadly, FC Barcelona central defender Clement Lenglet might be on the verge of experiencing this saying in reverse.

Lenglet is enjoying a marvelous debut season with Barcelona —an unreal marvelous debut season. “I never imagined to reach this far when I was a kid,” he said about his first season with the Catalonian team in an interview on French TV program Canal Football Club on Sunday.

When Barcelona signed the 23-year-old in July 2018, he wasn’t expected to be a starter week in and week out. The center backs in front of the young Frenchman were two of the best defenders in the world, Gerard Pique and Samuel Umtiti.

Umtiti re-picked up a knee injury on September 28, which kept him out of Barca’s lineup for 28 matches. A man’s loss is another man’s treasure. Lenglet has been one of FCB’s top starting center backs since. He’s sacrificed his body to block a significant amount of shots, has been well positioned to help stop counter-attacks, released the ball quickly from the back, tackled and headed the ball as if his life depended on it. The ex-Sevilla player has been one of the best defenders in Spain.

Despite that, France head coach Didier Deschamps didn’t call him for the country’s two Euro qualifiers during the international break.

“They made the list and I totally respect it,” the Beauvais native said on Canal Football Club.

Why wasn’t Lenglet on the list when he’s having a sensational season in Spain?

“Within my logic to select players,” Deschamps said via Mundo Deportivo “experience, what I experienced, is an important criterion, to the disgrace of those [who doesn’t have experience yet.]”

Obviously, Lenglet is only going to get international experience if Deschamps calls him on the squad. The 50-year-old French coach partially put the blame on himself for Lenglet’s inexperience at the international level.

“Clement [Lenglet] does not have international experience yet, although it is a bit because of me,” Deschamps said.

Choosing Umtiti and Raphael Varane over Lenglet is completely understandable. Although Umtiti hasn’t been playing much for Barca after recovering from his injury, he has amassed 27 appearances for France before getting called up for the qualifiers and helped them win the FIFA World Cup last year.

As for Varane, his club team Real Madrid might be underperforming, but the 25-year-old also helped Les Bleus win the 2018 World Cup and tallied 53 international appearances before the two Euro qualifiers.

It also made sense to pick Presnel Kimpembe over Lenglet. Kimpembe played one match at the 2018 WC and racked six international games.

“Sam and Presnel are two players who won the World Cup, who have been there [with the national team] for a long time,” Lenglet admitted on Canal Football Club.

However, choosing Kurt Zouma over Lenglet was questionable. Zouma wasn’t in France’s roster in the World Cup, only having three international appearances over Lenglet and his club Everton sits in 11th place in the English Premier League and has conceded the 11th most goals, 42 in 31 matches.

Lenglet represented France at the youth international level from 2010 to 2016 and now during one of the best stints of his professional career, a dream season with one of the best teams in the world Barca, he didn’t get pick to wear his country’s color. It must’ve hurt.

It hurt the Blaugrana fans. “I feel sad for Lenglet that he didn’t get called up for France, but their loss is certainly our gain,” Youtube talk show TalkFCB tweeted on March 14.

Nevertheless, if Lenglet did make the squad, it’s very improbable that he would’ve played. Deschamps didn’t sub out his starting center backs.

After not getting a national team call-up, the six-foot-one defender might have to face another heartache. Umtiti is back to full health. Hence it’s very unlikely that Lenglet will remain in the starting lineup. One thing that’s in favor of Lenglet is the club’s schedule.

Starting from Saturday, Barcelona has four games in 12 days. Therefore it wouldn’t be a surprise for FCB head coach Ernesto Valverde to give the center half a full 90 to rest Pique and Umtiti.

But for next season, Lenglet’s playing time could be in serious danger. Golden Boy winner and center back Matthijs de Ligt could be making his way to the Camp Nou this summer. This signing could bring Lenglet’s minutes down tremendously.

The youngster’s easy way out is to see guarantee playing time is to leave the Spanish champions. Lenglet was falsely linked to a move to Serie A club Napoli. But his agent expressed that there’s no reason for the defender to leave Barcelona.

“I wonder why he should ever leave? He’s playing, he’s winning and it’s Barcelona,” Lenglet’s agent said via Calcio Mercato.

Indeed Lenglet started all of FCB’s last four outings. Unfortunately, as mentioned, his playing time with Barca is in jeopardy now, which would pull the Frenchman a large step away from getting his first call-up for France.