Arsenal legend Petit publishes his first crime novel and says his next will have ‘dead bodies all over France’
Former Chelsea and Barcelona star is already plotting second book based on France 98 and a third about paedophilia in football
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EMMANUEL PETIT has swapped bookings for bookshelves - by becoming a crime writer.
The Arsenal legend has just published the first part of a murder trilogy set in the world of football.
And French World Cup winner Petit says his third whodunnit will deal with child abuse within the game - inspired by recent scandals in England.
The 48-year-old's literary debut Dernier Tacle (Final Tackle) recently hit the shops in France.
Petit said: "I've thought for years about mixing fiction with football. The FIFA corruption scandals were the trigger for me.
"Football is a rich setting to invent deaths. Look at FIFA - it is a world where you could imagine corpses everywhere.
"I don't just write negative stuff. One of my characters enables a young lad to escape his background via football.
"I too came from a bad environment, but a coach helped me to get where I am now.
"My next book will be out next year. It is set at the 1998 World Cup finals, and there'll be dead bodies all over France 98.
"The story will follow the path taken by Les Bleus, with a death in every city where we played.
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"I will appear in it under my own name, and all the other France players will also be characters.
"I already have the theme for my third book in mind - paedophilia in football.
"This may surprise you. I don't have any personal experience of it.
";But there have been cases coming to light in England recently - and they have inspired me."
Petit won the Double with Arsenal, and also played for Chelsea and Barcelona.
He is co-authoring the novels with Marseille writer Gilles Del Pappas.
Petit added: "The drama, the narrative and the skeleton of the story come from me.
"I am like an old man, unable to write on a computer. I do it all in exercise books full of erasings.
"Writing is a long mental process, and harder than playing a football match."