Liverpool defender Ibrahima Konaté has left the French national team to return to the club.
Konate was an unused substitute as France recorded a 3-0 win over Azerbaijan in 2026 World Cup qualifying on Friday. Goals from Kylian Mbappe, Adrien Rabiot and Florian Thauvin gave Les Bleus an important three points.
The centre-back will not feature when France travel to Iceland in their second match of the October international break.
No injury has been confirmed, although Liverpool manager Arne Slot confirmed 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 with form in the opening weeks of the new campaign and has been criticized for his club performances. Arne Slot admitted the defender, who is out of contract next summer, was struggling after back-to-back defeats to Crystal Palace and Galatasaray.
“When you lose like we did against 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 the penalty, they got maybe three out of four moments where we lost simple balls without any pressure, which happened to him once in the match against Crystal Palace and Galatasaray.
“When you lose a game of football there is so much focus on that moment. Suddenly 90 minutes have been very bad and that’s not what I analyze the game again and see what we did right and what we did wrong.”
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