Thuram, Chelsea’s Fofana among new faces in France squad for Euro qualifiers

PARIS: Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana and the Nice midfielder Khephren Thuram were handed first call-ups to the France squad named by coach Didier Deschamps on Thursday as the World Cup runners-up prepare to start their Euro 2024 qualifying campaign this month.

The Lens goalkeeper Brice Samba was also included after long-serving captain Hugo Lloris and his regular back-up Steve Mandanda both retired from international duty following 2018 world champions France’s defeat to Argentina in the final in Qatar in December.

Manchester United centerback Raphael Varane has also stood down from international football, while Karim Benzema’s France career is over too. He played no part at the World Cup after suffering an injury on the eve of the tournament.

“Even if the weeks have gone by, when you come so close to winning the biggest title of all it is not easy,” Deschamps said of the penalty shootout defeat in Doha.

“We need to try to feed off that, but without living in the past. The experience will help us, even if we mustn’t tell ourselves we have already qualified for the Euro just because we got to the World Cup final.”

Deschamps, who must find a new captain following the departure of Lloris, is also without other high-profile names such as Paul Pogba, N’Golo Kante, Ousmane Dembele and Christopher Nkunku, but Olivier Giroud is retained in the squad at the age of 36.

Giroud became France’s all-time record goal-scorer during the World Cup as he overtook Thierry Henry’s mark of 51 goals and scored his 53rd for his country in the quarter-final win over England.

Khephren Thuram, the 21-year-old Italy-born son of France legend Lilian Thuram, has been rewarded for his outstanding form in Ligue 1 with Nice.

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