The French football team has suffered another blow just days out from the FIFA World Cup in Qatar with forward Christopher Nkunku ruled out of the tournament after suffering an injury during training.
In a video circulating on social media, Nkunku was seen going for a 50-50 ball in a training drill before taking a knock from teammate Eduardo Camavinga and going down in pain. He was later helped off the field by a member of the training staff.
French football federation (FFF) has confirmed that the forward suffered a knee sprain and will not be joining travelling to Qatar with the rest of the team.
“The X-ray examinations carried out in the evening, unfortunately, revealed that it was a sprain,” the FFF said in a statement.
The FFF has sent his file to FIFA in order for the defending champions to call up a replacement with Wissam Ben Yedder, Moussa Diaby, Morgan Terrier or Randal Kolo Muani the likeliest candidates.
Christopher Nkunku was named in France’s World Cup squad after impressive performances for RB Leipzig with only his international teammate Kylian Mbappe having more goal contributions than him in 2022 in Europe’s top-five leagues.
The 25-year-old has achieved a total of 48 goal involvements (37 goals and 11 assists) in the calendar year, with Mbappe leading the way on 57 (43 goals and 14 assists).
France, who are already without the services of Paul Pogba, N’golo Kante and Presnel Kimpembe, will face Australia Denmark and Tunisia in Group D in an effort to defend their title.
Didier Deschamps’ side will leave for Doha today.
