Chelsea centre-back (22) Wesley Fofana won’t feature with France next week. Called up for the very first time by national team manager Didier Deschamps on Thursday, the defender sustained a hamstring injury during Chelsea’s Premier League home 2-2 draw against Everton on Saturday. He is the second France centre-back to pull out of the squad following William Saliba’s (21) back injury. The Arsenal man is set to be out of contention for several weeks.
Saliba and Fofana have been replaced by Monaco’s Axel Disasi (25) and Nice’s Jean-Clair Todibo (23). The former Barcelona defender is called up for the first time. The other confirmed centre-backs to feature for France are Bayern Munich’s Dayot Upamecano (24) and Liverpool’s Ibrahima Konaté (23).
𝘋𝘪𝘴𝘢𝘴𝘪 𝘦𝘵 𝘛𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘞. 𝘍𝘰𝘧𝘢𝘯𝘢 𝘦𝘵 𝘚𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘣𝘢.
— Equipe de France ⭐⭐ (@equipedefrance) March 19, 2023
Didier Deschamps a décidé de convoquer les défenseurs de Monaco et de l'OGC Nice pour pallier aux forfaits de ceux de Chelsea et d'Arsenal. pic.twitter.com/5lYgBkjEHk
Les Bleus will host The Netherlands on Friday at the Stade de France and travel to Ireland three days later to kick off their campaign to qualify for the Germany-hosted Euro 2024.
GFFN | Bastien Cheval