Ibrahima Konate handed first France call-up as Raphael Varane suffers more injury woe

Ibrahima Konate has been handed his maiden France call-up after Raphael Varane picked up yet another injury.

The Liverpool defender missed out on Didier Deschamps’ initial squad, even after an impressive second half of the season at Anfield. Like many of Jurgen Klopp’s recent signings, Konate was eased into the lineup following his £36million arrival last summer.

And while Joel Matip remained Virgil van Dijk’s more regular partner, Konate was given the nod in crunch times, including the FA Cup and Champions League finals. Despite defeat in the latter against Real Madrid, the 23-year-old vindicated Klopp’s decision with a solid showing against the likes of Karim Benzema and Vinicius Jr.

“Today he was the best defender on the pitch in terms of an individual performance,” Rio Ferdinand told BT Sport. “In one-v-one situations, dominant, he was tremendous. He can take some good credit out of this game even if they lost.”

But he will now have his chance to impress on the international stage following the news of Varane’s latest injury issue. Since signing for Manchester United last summer, the former Madrid centre-back has had a host of fitness problems - missing 17 games throughout the course of the season.

And just an hour into France’s Nations League clash with Denmark, the 29-year-old limped off the field at the Stade de France with a hamstring injury. It was subsequently revealed that the United man will be out for a couple of weeks, ruling him out of the home and away fixtures vs Croatia and the clash with Austria.

Kylian Mbappe was another Les Bleus star to pick up an injury during the shock defeat to Denmark, with scrutiny being placed upon the extra workload being placed upon players at the end of a busy