France confirm Kanté injury after making him travel unnecessarily

N’Golo Kanté has been dealing with an ankle injury since the very first game of the season, and while he’s gritted through a couple appearances, he also keeps reinjuring it. That’s precisely what happened late in the first-half against Liverpool on Saturday, when an unfortunate collision saw Sadio Mané fall on top of his left ankle, twisting it once again.

Kanté was not able to run it off, and had to be taken off. Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel confirmed the injury after the match, saying that Kanté was not able to put pressure on the ankle to move and accelerate properly.

The only good thing in the situation was the timing, with a two-week international break giving Kanté the chance to fully recover.

Except it’s never that easy of course, since France had called him up for their games during this break, and did not change their mind that after the Liverpool match. So off Kanté went, as he always does because he doesn’t want to let anyone down.

Having made the trip and attempted to train with the national team, France have now realized the obvious as well, and have sent the all-important midfielder back to Chelsea. He’s been replaced by Adrien Rabiot in the squad.

Hopefully Kanté can now focus on his recovery, and not have any other setbacks (ankle-wise, or otherwise) due to this bit of wholly unnecessary round-trip travel in a pandemic.