Sidibe mates sock it to him

BEING in a team WhatsApp chat is nothing new for footballers – but Djibril Sidibe can boast membership of a unique group that’s the envy of the Everton dressing room.

As a member of the 2018 France World Cup-winning squad, Sidibe belongs to an elite WhatsApp group – Les Champions du Monde 2018.

The 23 members include Paul Pogba, Kylian Mbappe, Antoine Griezmann, Raphael Varane, N’Golo Kante and Hugo Lloris.

So after realising he didn’t have his left sock on when being sent on as a substitute by boss Carlo Ancelotti in Everton’s recent game with Crystal Palace, it brought inevitable stick from some of football’s biggest names.

The right-back, 27, said: “It’s a good group to be a member of and we post messages now and again.

“But after the sock incident I had a ton of messages from players taking the mickey.”

Television pictures showed Ancelotti looking less than impressed but the Italian then joined in the ribbing.

Sidibe said: “He just had a laugh and took the mickey a bit as well.

“Even next morning when I turned up for training, it was, ‘Have you remembered your socks today?’

“The stress and tensions of the game meant I was just focused on getting on the pitch. I was going to ask Moise Kean for his socks but I’d have looked even more ridiculous.”

Sidibe (below) hopes to make headlines for the right reasons today as he tries to stop his pal Anthony Martial, although the striker is doubtful with a muscle complaint.

The full-back knows the in-form hitman from the France squad and he plans to break Martial’s own focus with some tunnel banter.

“There might be a bit of chat and mickey-taking,” he said.

“You’ll say things like, ‘You’re doing well at the moment, take it easy today and in the next match you can really go for it’.

“The biggest thing as a defender is to win your first one-to-one, that first individual battle.

“If you go in reasonably hard then psychologically you’ve made your mark. Establishing yourself with that first challenge means they’ll know you mean business.

“But Anthony is more experienced now than he was at Monaco.

“He has an increased level of responsibility with Marcus Rashford and Pogba missing.

“And I think he’s an even bigger danger now and threat because of his Premier League experience.

“I’ve been alongside him with