Ibrahima Konate made a return to France training today, having missed yesterday’s session with illness.
Konate had become the latest French player to have his World Cup final starting spot thrown into doubt. As per L’Equipe, the Liverpool defender was forced to sit out of last night’s training after feeling unwell.
However, there was reportedly better news today, with Konate given the green light to join this afternoon’s session. Manchester United centre-back Raphael Varane and Bayern’s Kingsley Coman also trained with their teammates ahead of tomorrow’s final with Argentina.
The French outlet isn’t able to confirm whether or not Ibou will take part in tonight’s session, which will be the last one before the final.
Konate hoping for winning end to breakout tournament
This is great news for Konate, but it’s still likely that he doesn’t play for France tomorrow.
Dayot Upamecano has also been struck down with the same illness, but his symptoms began before the Liverpool man’s. As a result, the Bayern Munich defender will probably be ahead in Didier Deschamps thinking.
If everyone is fit, Upamecano appears to be the manager’s preferred choice anyway. Konate’s quite brilliant displays in Qatar should have put some doubt in Deschamps’ mind about that, but this setback might cancel those out.
Either way, tomorrow is obviously a huge day for Ibou. The real shame would be if the 23-year-old is forced to miss out on the squad entirely.
Some of the France squad have been isolating so as not to pass any symptoms on to their teammates. Should Konate suffer a reoccurrence of the problems and be forced to miss training tonight, it’s unlikely that he’ll be on the bench tomorrow.
That would be a desperately sad way to end was has been a kind of breakout tournament for Konate.
Although he hasn’t played in every game, the Liverpool centre-back has really announced himself as one of the top talents of his generation.
Of course, Liverpool fans already knew that. Whether or not he plays tomorrow, the £35m the Reds paid for him is starting to look like the bargain of the century. Fingers crossed for you tomorrow, Ibou, rest up.
Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox
