Former France head coach Raymond Domenech has insisted that a certain Manchester United star should not be selected for his country's 2022 FIFA World Cup squad.
There is a growing list of injury concerns for various nations who are set to compete at the World Cup next month, with Liverpool and Chelsea players Diogo Jota and N'Golo Kante having already been ruled out of the tournament for Portugal and France, respectively.
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Argentina are also likely to be without attacker Paulo Dybala, who is reportedly in a race against time to recover from an injury of his own.
The reigning World Champions, however, are now facing another potential blow after defender Raphael Varane sustained a knee injury during United's clash against Chelsea on the weekend.
The centre-back limped off the pitch in tears on Saturday, and upon an MRI scan on Sunday, it was ruled that the 29-year-old will miss three to four weeks of action, and will therefore not be fit for Les Bleus' opening Group D match against Australia on 22 November.
Despite this, and with Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag having also confirmed that Varane will not play for United again before the World Cup, France manager Didier Deschamps could still name the former Real Madrid centre-back in his squad for the tournament, with a view to having him available for the latter stages of the competition.
However, ex-Les Bleus boss Domenech, who managed the side at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups, believes this would be a mistake.
Speaking to L’Equipe, he said: "If we get rid of the 26 problem that allows for three injured players, he [Deschamps] could probably take Varane to the World Cup.
"But if we ask ourselves if he should take him, then no. You don't take someone who will completely pollute the whole preparation.
"We saw it in 2004 with Marcel Desailly, in 2008 with Patrick Vieira, I had it with William Gallas in 2010, and there was Zinedine Zidane in 2002.
"We don't know if these players will be ready or not. It's always the same, the group is polluted.
"I cited four examples from four different competitions for which we screwed up each time."
Deschamps remains hopeful that the defender and a few others, including Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba, will recover in time.
"It necessarily depends on when the player was injured. Each case is different. For Raphael, as for the others, the indispensable condition is that he is healed," Deschamps said, according to L'Equipe.
"The second criterion we set is the athletic condition. The player's ability to perform will be accurately assessed.
"For example, there are differences between Raphael's muscular injuries and Paul's joint injuries.
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"The last criterion we establish is the competition in the position."
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WATCH TEN HAG DISCUSS VARANE'S INJURY:
