Ibrahima Konaté returns to France first-team training

Ibrahima Konaté (25) has not featured as prominently as many would have thought for France in these Euros. The Liverpool centre-back looked to be the first-choice, alongside Bayern Munich’s Dayot Upamecano at the heart of Les Bleus’ defence. However, he lost his place to Arsenal’s William Saliba, who has put together a string of error-free performances to seemingly consolidate his status as a regular starter.

Konaté, however, has remained an option, and a trusted one for Didier Deschamps. There were nonetheless doubts whether this would remain the case against Belgium on Monday. L’Équipe reported that the Liverpool centre-back picked up a knock in Friday’s training session and was therefore absent on Saturday.

However, with just over 24 hours until the Round of 16 encounter against Belgium, he has returned to first-team training, as per L’Équipe. Regardless, Konaté, who has yet to play a single minute in this summer’s Euros, is not set to feature. The option is at least there, however.

GFFN | Luke Entwistle