Last seen on a football pitch during the 2-2 draw against Tottenham, Chelsea’s N’Golo Kanté will not be back before the World Cup and will miss the international tournament.
That is what L’Equipe are reporting, who reveal on Friday afternoon that the France national team star ‘will not recover in time’ to travel to Qatar in Didier Deschamps’ squad.
Despite not playing since mid-August, the Chelsea midfielder’s status would have granted him a spot on the plane had he recovered in time, much like Paul Pogba.
It looked like Kanté was going to return last week, but the 31-year-old relapsed in training with the Stamford Bridge side, and will now ‘be forced to withdraw’ himself from contention.
He has yet to feature under Graham Potter, who took over from Thomas Tuchel at Chelsea after Todd Boehly’s decision to sack the Champions League winning German manager.
Kanté is an important piece of Deschamps’ plans when fit, but this will force the France boss to work out a way of succeeding without his tireless midfielder in Qatar.
It will also open the door for other players to claim a place in the list of 26 players called up, such as Mattéo Guendouzi, who has been impressing with Marseille under Igor Tudor this season.
