France manager Didier Deschamps has been speaking to L’Equipe ahead of announcing his next squad on March 16th. There are a lot of question marks over who will be included, with some players slipping out of contention and others playing so well it’s increasing hard to ignore them.
Crystal Palace’s Mamdou Sakho will be hoping to get himself back into contention after leaving Liverpool on loan. Sakho fell out with Jurgen Klopp which led to the German manager ostracising him from the club and the only surprise in the defender’s exit is that he didn’t leave Anfield earlier in the window.
“Reaching out, no. I can’t reach out to everyone. Nobody, and especially not me, will take away from him what he did against Ukraine (two goals in a play-off which helped France 
qualify for the last World Cup), but it does not give him a place for ten years. That said, anything is possible.”
The French newspaper then put it to Deschamps that Sakho had been a leader in the group: “He has been, but he has not come for a while and others have responded. I’m happy for him to be a footballer again.”
Moving on to Sakho’s Crystal Palace teammate Steve Mandana, Deschamps was asked about the goalkeeper’s recent lack of playing time: “He is in a complicated situation. There was his injury and the change of coach. I’m not going to say I’m worried but now he’s not playing…”
