{"id":491326,"date":"2025-10-11T15:39:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T15:39:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/491326\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T15:39:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T15:39:12","slug":"konate-out-of-france-squad-with-thigh-injury-ahead-of-man-utd-showdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/491326\/","title":{"rendered":"Konate out of France squad with thigh injury ahead of Man Utd showdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate has withdrawn from the France<\/a> squad after suffering a recurrence of a thigh injury.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old had been called up for France\u2019s World Cup qualifiers but did not feature in Friday\u2019s 3-0 win over Azerbaijan, remaining an unused substitute in Nice.<\/p>\n

He was later ruled out of Monday\u2019s trip to Iceland after failing to recover from the problem.<\/p>\n

A statement<\/a> from the French Football Federation confirmed the news, explaining that Konate had been following a treatment plan since joining the national team camp on Monday but would not be fit to play.<\/p>\n

In response, Didier Deschamps has called up Benjamin Pavard, currently on loan at Marseille from Inter Milan, as his replacement.<\/p>\n

Konate first sustained the issue during Liverpool\u2019s 2-1 defeat to Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on 4 October, when he was forced off in the second half.<\/p>\n

The Frenchman has since been managing the problem, but the setback has prompted his early return to Merseyside for further assessment.<\/p>\n

Liverpool are hopeful that the defender\u2019s injury is only minor, with initial indications suggesting it may not be a long-term concern.<\/p>\n

The club will continue to monitor his recovery ahead of the Premier League clash with Manchester United<\/a> at Anfield next weekend.<\/p>\n

His absence, however, adds to the growing list of defensive concerns for the Premier League champions.<\/p>\n

Giovanni Leoni is already ruled out for the season after suffering an anterior cruciate ligament injury in September, while goalkeeper Alisson Becker is not expected to return from a hamstring problem until after the November international break.<\/p>\n

If Konate fails to recover in time, Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez remain the only senior centre-back options available to Arne Slot. Both players are currently on international duty, with Van Dijk completing 90 minutes in the Netherlands\u2019 4-0 victory over Malta on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Konate has been an important figure under Slot this season, starting regularly alongside Van Dijk in the heart of defence.<\/p>\n

His leadership and composure have been key to Liverpool\u2019s strong domestic form, and the club will hope his latest injury setback proves short-lived as they prepare for a busy schedule after the international break.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate has withdrawn from the France squad after suffering a recurrence of a thigh injury.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":491327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5309],"tags":[2000,299,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-491326","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-france","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115356288005494960","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/491327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}