France boss Didier Deschamps reveals plan amid Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate injury concern

France boss Didier Deschamps has suggested that his entire playing squad are fit to feature in the country’s upcoming games - including Ibrahima Konate.

The Liverpool defender was taken off in last Saturday’s 2-1 loss against Chelsea in the Premier League. Konate had a problem with quad and Reds head coach Arne Slot decided to not take any risks

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,” said Slot at his post-match press conference. “Then, for me, all alarm bells go off because in another sprint you never know if that is going to go good.

“It was also already a substitution I had in mind, maybe for a few minutes or a little bit later, because the right centre-back had a lot of ball possession and we needed to create from that position. We all know Ryan [Gravenberch] is quite good in that. It might be OK that he went off early enough but it was clear I had to take him off because he was limping.”

Konate has travelled to Paris for France’s upcoming 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Azerbaijan and Iceland. The centre-back featured in both of Les Bleus’ games last month due to Arsenal defender William Saliba being unavailable.

France are also hopeful on the fitness of captain Kylian Mbappe, who sustained a setback in Real Madrid’s victory over Villarreal. Speaking at a press conference, Deschamps said that while there are some concerns, he expects everyone to be available to play. And the Les Blues boss revealed he will manage the minutes of his squad during the upcoming two games, suggesting that Konate may get some respite.

Deschamps said Le Parisien: “There are still injuries. I don't have any additional information. We'll have an update when the players arrive. Kylian is here. He had a small problem that isn't a deal breaker. Otherwise, he wouldn't have come

"The observation is that for the vast majority, they arrive tired. They arrive from one week to three matches. I will have to spread out the playing time more than in September. They are all fit to play."

Following the press conference and players’ arrivals, France confirmed a squad change but it was not Konate. Bradley Barcola has been released from Deschamps’ set-upafter being assessed by Dr. Franck Le Gall. That suggests that Konate has avoided an issue that will keep him out of the two-time World Cup winners’ plans.

Konate has started every Premier League game for Liverpool so far this season. However, his performances have come under scrutiny by sections of supporters. Slot was asked about the form of the 26-year-old before the Chelsea game. He said: “What I think is if you are losing a game of football, as we did against Galatasaray and against Palace, then it doesn't help if you lose a ball a few times very easily. He has been one of them, definitely not the only one because against Galatasaray I think apart from the penalty they created three or four moments and all three or four from us losing a very simple ball without any pressure, which happened to him once in the Crystal Palace game and once against Galatasaray.

“If you then lose a game of football, there's so much focus on that moment and then all of a sudden [the] 90 minutes have been very, very poor, which is not the way I analyse a game. Especially not afterwards where I have the time to analyse, to watch it one more time, and see what we did well and what we did wrong. In the last two games, it has been obvious and clear we've made a few errors, not only him but also others, that we're not used to. If you do things people are not used to and you lose a game of football then normally he, other ones and the manager gets criticised.”