France head coach Didier Deschamps has responded to criticism from Jurgen Klopp over the use of Ibrahima Konate, with the Liverpool defender having been plagued by injury troubles in recent weeks.
When the centre-back was used for almost the entirety of Les Bleus’ friendly win over Scotland last month, despite having some underlying fitness problems, the Reds manager slammed the 55-year-old for what he felt was excessive use of the player in the circumstances (The Mirror).
The 24-year-old missed his club’s last two games due to a hamstring strain which has since forced him to withdraw from international duty for his country’s final two Euro 2024 qualifiers (FFF.fr).
In light of Klopp’s comments in October regarding Konate, Deschamps has now replied (via RMC Sport): “It has already happened, and it will happen again because the situation and interests diverge between national team and club coaches.
“I try to manage them like every other manager does. When they [club managers] have them for three weeks, it’s easier to manage them. We have them for one break, two games.”
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We were obviously disappointed not to have Konate for the games against Toulouse and Brentford, and he was missed in the Europa League defeat.
However, even with several other Liverpool players already sidelined through injury, the timing of the 24-year-old’s body blow may have been paradoxically ideal from a Reds perspective.
His enforced withdrawal from the France squad means that he won’t aggravate the hamstring injury on international duty, and it certainly would’ve been massively galling if his body blow had been worsened while playing for Les Bleus this month.
Deschamps’ side have already booked their place at Euro 2024, so their concluding qualifiers against Gibraltar and Greece have nothing riding on them from their perspective.
This is a classic case of a club manager and a national team boss each prioritising their respective interests, which is very much understandable and must leave players with conflicting mindsets, as they wouldn’t want to antagonise either party.
From Liverpool’s point of view, though, it isn’t hard to make a case for the hectic pre-Christmas fixture schedule being of far greater importance than a couple of international games with nothing on the line for France.
We look forward to hopefully having Konate fully fit and raring to go when our season resumes with a massive showdown against Premier League leaders Manchester City on Saturday week.
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