France have been dealt yet another injury blow as they look to defend their World Cup crown, with Christopher Nkunku picking up an injury in training on Tuesday.
The RB Leipzig attacker – who is rumoured to have an agreement in place to join Chelsea next summer – has been in superb form for his club over the past 18 months and was tipped to make a big impact in Qatar.
But he limped out of a training session on Tuesday after an uncompromising challenge from Real Madrid’s Eduardo Camavinga and follow-up scans have revealed bad news.
A statement from the French Football Federation confirmed: ‘Christopher Nkunku will not participate in the World Cup.
‘The RB Leipzig forward left Tuesday’s training session before the end after injuring his left knee. The scans taken in the evening unfortunately revealed that it was a sprain.
‘Didier Deschamps has recorded the withdrawal of Nkunku and a medical file was sent to FIFA, a regulatory prerequisite in order to replace an injured player in the squad following the submission of the squad list on Monday.
‘The name of Nkunku’s replacement will be communicated once the medical file has been validated by FIFA.
‘The whole group shares Christopher’s sadness and wishes him a speedy recovery.’
According to RMC Sport, Frankfurt striker Randal Kolo Muani is the player who has been picked to replace Nkunku and the 23-year-old will fly out to link up with the France squad as soon as his selection has been rubberstamped by FIFA.
Nkunku and Camavinga had both gone in for a challenge and while the Madrid midfielder appeared to make a small amount of contact with his team-mate, the attacker also appeared to get his studs stuck in the ground as his knee collapsed under him.
Footage of the incident showed Nkunku rolling around in pain as he was consoled by his team-mates before hobbling off the training pitch with the help of a physio as a stony-faced Deschamps looked on.
Nkunku’s injury adds to France’s already considerable list of issues, with the likes of Paul Pogba and N’Golo Kante missing the tournament while Karim Benzema has been carrying a knock.
The Ballon d’Or winner – who continues to train separately – missed Real’s run-in before the World Cup break but told L’Equipe on Tuesday: ‘I’m fine. I had a little pain but no tear or big injury. I can play but not at 100%.’
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MORE : Cristiano Ronaldo involved in bizarre altercation with Joao Cancelo during Portugal training
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