France have called up Senny Mayulu to the senior national team from the Under-21s as Kylian Mbappé battles hamstring issues ahead of the UEFA Nations League match against Italy.
Mbappé’s hamstring issues put Italy clash in doubt
France manager Zinedine Zidane has suffered a heavy blow before the much-anticipated clash against Italy, with Kylian Mbappé’s absence from Thursday’s UEFA Nations League match becoming almost certain due to pain in his hamstring muscles. French press reports say Mbappé is suffering from discomfort in his hamstring.
Mbappé did not take part in the France national team’s last group training session on Wednesday and instead underwent treatment only, one day before facing Italy in Milan. The French network Canal Plus reported that Mbappé will miss the match against Italy due to hamstring pain.
The French Federation did not announce details of Mbappé’s diagnosis in its statement on Senny Mayulu’s call-up. Mbappé’s absence from training, together with reports that spoke of his exclusion from the Italy fixture, leaves his status for the match in considerable doubt.
The focus now turns to whether Mbappé can be readied for the following fixture against Turkey, scheduled for Sunday.
First senior call-up for Senny Mayulu
The technical staff of the France national team officially announced the call-up of Paris Saint-Germain’s Senny Mayulu from the France Under-21 team. France added Mayulu to the senior squad, a first call-up for the 20-year-old.
Mayulu was already at the Clairefontaine centre with the youth team before being drafted in. According to the newspaper Le Parisien, Mayulu joined to cover the absence of Aurélien Tchouaméni, who left the France camp due to injury.
Le Parisien also stated that Mayulu could be an additional option to cover any potential absence of Mbappé, given his versatility across positions and his ability to fill attacking roles.
The French network Canal Plus reported that Zidane decided to call up Mayulu to make up for the shortage in attacking options, especially in the out-and-out striker position.
Injury-hit France attack and squad reshuffles
Aurélien Tchouaméni left the France national team camp after sustaining an injury. The absences of Marcus Thuram and Pierre Kalulu from the France national team were also confirmed after they had been part of the national team’s plans.
The original France squad list had already lost a number of attacking players to injury, most notably Ousmane Dembélé, Magnes Akliouche and Esteban Lepaul. After calling up Marcus Thuram before losing him to injury, Zidane brought in Elye Junior Kroupi to cover that absence.
Zidane then turned to Senny Mayulu after Tchouaméni’s injury.
Nations League objectives and reports on dressing-room tension
France enter this stage of the UEFA Nations League seeking to secure qualification to the quarter-finals. France need to collect just 1 point from the fixture against Italy to guarantee progression to the UEFA Nations League quarter-finals according to the group’s calculations.
The newspaper L'Équipe spoke of a relationship that is not entirely harmonious between Mbappé and his new coach Zidane, compared to the relationship Mbappé had with former coach Didier Deschamps.
According to French reports, the roots of the tension between Mbappé and Zidane go back to Zidane’s first camp in charge, when he decided to deploy Mbappé on the left wing while relying on Ousmane Dembélé in the heart of the attack.
Zidane had announced clearly before the current camp that Mbappé would get the chance to play in his preferred position as a centre-forward during the matches against Italy and Turkey, with Dembélé absent from the list through injury.
The latest physical developments concerning Mbappé threaten to deprive Zidane of the chance to test the understanding between Mbappé and the rest of the attacking players in the line-up he had planned to rely on.
According to French reports, reports on the France national team’s atmosphere pointed to tension between Mbappé and some of his teammates against the backdrop of the fallout from the competition for the Ballon d’Or and the exchanged statements around it.
Reports also spoke of Mbappé’s sense of isolation inside the France dressing room and his attempt to grow closer to another group of players.
