After having to come off late in the match against Chelsea due to an injury to his quad, there was mild surprise that Liverpool centre half Ibrahima Konaté was ruled fit to join the French national team ahead of World Cup qualifiers against Azerbaijan and Iceland.
Reports that he wasn’t fit to play despite being named to the bench on Friday when Les Blues played at home against Azerbaijan raised further eyebrows, and today reports out of France have Konaté returning to Liverpool rather than joining preparations for Iceland.
Given there appears to be a clear issue, it’s troubling that France or the player appear to have wanted to press and test out said issue rather than allowing Konaté to remain on Merseyside to recover—especially when Konaté is generally seen as third choice for France.
Still, perhaps we should try to see the positive and consider that it’s at least better late than never and at least a half-fit Konaté isn’t being dragged along to Iceland to sit on the bench for Monday night and France’s second qualifier of this October international break.