Ibrahima Konate injury forces withdrawal from France squad

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Ibrahima Konate has returned to Liverpool after it was decided that he would not feature in France’s World Cup qualifier against Iceland on Monday. The defender arrived at the national team’s base earlier this week, nursing a quad injury he sustained in Liverpool’s 2-1 defeat to Chelsea.

Fears around the severity of Konate’s injury were eased on Friday night when he was named in the France squad for the 3-0 win over Azerbaijan. But the French FA have now confirmed he will not travel for Monday’s qualifier against Iceland after talks with Didier Deschamps and the national team doctor.

After Konate was replaced by Curtis Jones in the 56th minute of the defeat at Stamford Bridge last weekend, Arne Slot said: “I don’t know if it is a big injury, but what I do know is he limped a little bit and when I asked him he said he felt his quad a little bit. “It might be OK that he went off early enough but it was clear I had to take him off because he was limping.” Marseille defender Benjamin Pavard has been called up to the France squad to replace Konate.