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Ibrahima Konate has been labeled as a doubt for France ahead of its World Cup qualifiers in the coming days after the defender picked up an injury with Liverpool.
The 26-year-old was brought off just 10 minutes into the second half of the Reds’ 2-1 defeat to Chelsea last weekend, with Arne Slot revealing afterwards that he had been struggling with a quad issue.
Konate still reported for international duty earlier this week, although he is yet to take part in full training with his France teammates as concerns continue over his fitness ahead of games against Azerbaijan and Iceland.
Konate sat out training on Tuesday, and according to Ouest-France, he and Kylian Mbappe trained separately from the rest of their teammates on Wednesday. The latter is also considered a doubt after picking up an ankle injury with Real Madrid.
The pair is said to be following the protocol set out by France doctor Franck Le Gall. L’Equipe pointed out that both Konate and Mbappe started Wednesday’s session alongside their teammates, and did so “without any apparent discomfort.”
Instead of taking part in match drills afterwards, though, the two players broke off to take in some light jogging. It’s claimed that Mbappe is more likely to play in Friday’s game against Azerbaijan than Konate.
French boss Didier Deschamps insisted on Monday he would take “no risks” with his players, although he didn’t appear to have too many concerns over his current squad.
"The observation is that for the vast majority, they arrive tired,” Deschamps said. “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."
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Liverpool likely won’t take much comfort in the latest reports on Konate’s fitness, with the Reds’ defensive options having already been depleted this season.
Giovanni Leoni looks set to miss the rest of the season after tearing his ACL on his debut for the club against Southampton, and Slot will be hoping for better news regarding Konate before Liverpool takes on Manchester United on October 19.
"What I do know is that he limped," Slot said about Konate’s injury on Saturday. "He felt his quad a little bit. For me, alarm bells go off because in another sprint, you never know. It was already a sub I had in mind for a little later.
"It might be OK that he went off early enough, but it was clear I had to take him out because he was limping."
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