FURY AT FRENCH BOSS OVER CROCKED KANTE
FRANK LAMPARD has slammed France coach Didier Deschamps for his treatment of N’Golo Kante.
Midfielder Kante was left out of France’s Euro 2020 qualifier against Iceland last Friday after suffering a groin injury.
But the Chelsea ace, 28, who has had injury problems this season, was then made to sit on the bench against Turkey on Monday instead of returning to Cobham for treatment.
As a result, he is definitely out of today’s Stamford Bridge clash with Newcastle.
Furious Lampard said: “N’Golo is not fit, he had a small groin issue in the warm-up to the first international game for France.
“We didn’t get him back until after the second game – and now he’s not fit.
“Before the international break, Deschamps mentioned about Olivier Giroud not getting games.
“That was light-hearted and I get it, we all have our selection problems.
“But the Kante issue is not a laughing matter.
“We communicated before the last break because he was injured so couldn’t go.
“We both agreed on how things should work.
“When he pulled out of the first game last week, he had a fitness test before the second game and it was that. That’s clear he couldn’t play. But he then sat on the bench.
“Kante has been around the block, he’s won World Cups, is a fantastic player. That could have sbeen handled better.
“Our doctors were speaking with the French and things weren’t coming back to us – that’s what I mean about communication.
“We got a player back later. I understand when players are on international duty, they are their country’s player – but it was quite clear he wasn’t fit.
“We would have wanted him back (below left) (below) to work on him. We have to think about the long term and the care of the player.”
Lampard, who also has defender Andreas Christensen out for two weeks and doubts over Mateo Kovacic, did though have words of sympathy for Christian Pulisic.
He was taken off after an hour of the USA’s shock 2-0 defeat by Canada and burst into tears on the bench.
Pulisic has struggled to get into Lampard’s team this season and the Chelsea boss said: “Christian has come to us in a big move, he’s just turned 21, and we’ve got a competitive squad.
“I always have a problem who to pick. Along with every player here, he needs to work hard, keep improving.
“I’m sympathetic to every one of my players. You come to Chelsea and the demands are huge. I see the big picture with Christian.”