With former Chelsea star N'Golo Kante having been surprisingly recalled by France for the 2024 UEFA European Championship, national team coach Didier Deschamps has since explained his shock decision.
Less than a month remains before Euro 2024 gets underway in Germany, and with France already considered one of the favourites to win the competition, there was a lot of anticipation around who will make their squad given the bottomless talent the country seems to have.
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On Thursday, Deschamps confirmed his 25-man squad, with Kante's inclusion being the biggest surprise as he has not been in the team for nearly two full years.
Notably, Portugal boss Roberto Martinez has not shied away from selecting players who play in the Saudi Pro League, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Ruben Neves, and Otavio. This is also the case with Spain, who have consistently called up Aymeric Laporte after he joined Al Nassr.
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Deschamps has now also gone down the same route by bringing the Al Ittihad star back into the national team fold.
"He was last called up in June 2022, and what came afterwards was very difficult for him to take, given he missed out on the World Cup with an injury. Since then, though, he's rediscovered his athletic and footballing abilities – in fact, he's playing as we speak," the 2018 FIFA World Cup winning boss said, according to TF1.
"The situation was very clear in my mind – I wanted him to return to his best on the pitch, and in the meantime give some playing time to the younger players. I believe that the French national team is better with him, that's why I made the decision.
"Regardless of the situation, there's never any issue when it comes to N'Golo. He's an angel, everyone loves him. There are no guarantees, of course, but I can tell you that he is very happy.
"We can have debates about the intensity of matches in Saudi Arabia, but he's played more than 4 000 minutes this season, that's over 40 games. I have no doubts about his strengths."
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Full France Euro 24 squad
Goalkeepers: Alphonse Areola (West Ham United), Mike Maignan (AC Milan), Brice Samba (Lens)
Defenders: Jonathan Clauss (Olympique Marseille), Theo Hernandez (AC Milan), Ibrahima Konate (Liverpool), Jules Kounde (Barcelona), Ferland Mendy (Real Madrid), Benjamin Pavard (Inter Milan), William Saliba (Arsenal), Dayot Upamecano (Bayern Munich)
Midfielders: Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid), Youssouf Fofana (Monaco), Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), N'Golo Kante (Al Ittihad), Adrien Rabiot (Juventus), Aurelien Tchouameni (Real Madrid), Warren Zaïre-Emery (PSG)
Forwards: Bradley Barcola (PSG), Kingsley Coman (Bayern Munich), Ousmane Dembele (PSG), Olivier Giroud (AC Milan), Randal Kolo Muani (PSG), Kylian Mbappe (PSG), Marcus Thuram (Inter Milan)
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