Sports Mole takes an in-depth look at how France could line up for Sunday’s international friendly against Canada.
Arsenal centre-back William Saliba could be in line for a rare France start when Les Bleus tackle Canada in their final Euro 2024 warm-up friendly on Sunday.
The 23-year-old was set to play second fiddle to Ibrahima Konate and Dayot Upamecano at the Euros, but the latter was brought off at half time in Wednesday’s 3-0 win over Luxembourg due to thigh discomfort.
There have been no updates on the severity of Upamecano’s condition, but for the time being, Saliba should be the one to benefit from the Bayern Munich man’s affliction instead of Benjamin Pavard.
As such, Saliba and Konate should form an all-Premier League pairing in front of Mike Maignan, while Jules Kounde and Theo Hernandez‘s spots out wide should not come under any threat, even though Jonathan Clauss came off the bench to score in midweek.
Due to Aurelien Tchouameni‘s foot problem and Eduardo Camavinga‘s participation in the Champions League final, Youssouf Fofana and the returning N’Golo Kante were selected in the middle against Luxembourg, but Adrien Rabiot should almost certainly come into the equation now.
Monaco’s Fofana could be the unfortunate soul to drop out as Kante holds his spot alongside Rabiot, and the pair will most likely operate behind the almost ever-present Antoine Griezmann in the number 10 slot.
Scorer of one and assister of two goals against Luxembourg, Kylian Mbappe has surpassed Thierry Henry and Zinedine Zidane to set up 27 goals in a France shirt, and the Real Madrid new boy is an attacking shoo-in.
Marcus Thuram also appears to be edging the battle with Olivier Giroud to be France’s first-choice striker at the Euros, but despite his opening strike in midweek, Randal Kolo Muani is at risk of ceding his spot to Ousmane Dembele.
France possible starting lineup:
Maignan; Kounde, Saliba, Konate, Hernandez; Rabiot, Kante; Dembele, Griezmann, Mbappe; Thuram
No Data Analysis info