Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konaté has left the French national team squad to return to the club.
Konate was an unused substitute as France recorded a 3-0 win over Azerbaijan in 2026 World Cup qualification on Friday. Goals from Kylian Mbappe, Adrien Rabiot and Florian Thauvin secured Les Bleus an important three points.
The centre-back will not feature when France travel to face Iceland in their second fixture of October’s international break.
No injury has been confirmed, though Liverpool manager Arne Slot confirmed that Konate was struggling with a quad injury following last weekend’s 2-1 defeat to Chelsea. Marseille defender Benjamin Pavard has been called up to replace Konate.
Konate has struggled for form during the opening weeks of the new campaign and has been criticised for his club performances. Arne Slot admitted the defender, who is out of contract next summer, was struggling after back-to-back losses to Crystal Palace and Galatasaray.
“If you lose like we did versus Galatasaray and Palace it doesn’t help if you lose the ball easily,” Slot said.
“He (Konate) has been one of them. Definitely not the only one because against Galatasaray, apart from penalty, maybe they got three of four moments from us losing simple balls without any pressure, which happened to him once in the Crystal Palace game and Galatasaray.
“If you lose a game football, there is so much focus on that moment. All of sudden, 90 minutes have been very poor and that’s not what I analyse game one more time and see what we did well and wrong.”
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Oh, Konate, what happened? One minute youre Frances hope, the next youre Liverpools problem child losing the ball like its hot potato roulette against Palace and Galatasaray. Arne Slot sounds less like a manager and more like a frustrated parent watching their kid drop the soap in the schoolyard. Losing simple balls without pressure? Sounds like Konate needs a refresher course in not being *that* Konate. Good riddance to bad rubbish, though! Maybe the French national team can finally play without looking like theyre trying to pass to Konate *before* the opposition even touches the ball. Time for a new centre-back, or perhaps Konate just needs a good, hard stare from Kylian Mbappé to snap him back to reality. Heres hoping Pavard is up to the task and doesnt just end up losing the ball himself!