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William Saliba has confirmed Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konate has been absent from France training this week due to injury. The Reds centre-back picked up a muscular issue in his quadricep during the second half of Liverpool's dramatic 2-1 defeat to Chelsea on Saturday evening.
There was some doubt as to whether Konate would be involved for France during the international break but so far, he is yet to withdraw from the squad.
Saliba was asked about his team-mate's fitness on Wednesday, to which he replied: "He hasn't been training because he has some minor injuries. I hope he'll be back soon but I don't know any more."
Speaking at the start of the week, France boss Didier Deschamps appeared to indicate Konate's fitness issue was simply fatigue, declaring: "There are still injuries. I don't have any additional information. We'll have an update when the players arrive.
"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."
Meanwhile, Arsenal have clawed back an early five-point deficit on Liverpool in the space of just eight days to go top of the Premier League table.
Konate, whose Liverpool contract expires next summer, has failed to replicate last season's form for the Champions amid fears he's had his head turned by Real Madrid.
Los Blancos had been interested in prising Saliba away from the Emirates Stadium but their slim hopes of doing precisely that were put to bed last week when the 24-year-old penned a new long-term contract with the Gunners.
Liverpool remain in contract discussions with Konate, who has already rejected a number of proposals to extend his stay with the Reds.
Saliba added when quizzed on his decision to remain with Arsenal - the club he supported as a young boy: "I wanted to stay at Arsenal because I feel at home there. I miss the trophies, but they'll come quickly because we have a good coach and a good squad. I wanted to settle in there for the long term."
The Gunners stalwart has missed the last four international matches and is now keen to nail down a starting berth ahead of next summer's World Cup finals. Bayern Munich's Dayot Upamecano is also rated highly by Deschamps having won 32 caps for his country.
Both Saliba and Konate were named on the bench for the 2022 World Cup final defeat to Argentina as Raphael Varane partnered Upamecano at the heart of the France defence.
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