France Lose Ibrahima Konaté Ahead of UEFA Nations League Debut

Zinedine Zidane will begin his France tenure without Ibrahima Konaté, after the Real Madrid defender suffered a slight sprain to his right knee in training at Clairefontaine. The injury was confirmed after further examinations on Thursday, one day before France’s UEFA Nations League opener against Turkey. Konaté had been expected to start the match and will now leave the squad before Zidane’s first game as national-team coach.

The injury rules Konaté out of France’s next four Nations League fixtures. Those matches are the trip to Turkey on 25 September, the meeting with Belgium on 28 September, the home game against Italy on 2 October and the return fixture against Belgium on 5 October. France will play the two home matches at the Stade de France. The defender has been returned to Real Madrid, with the decision taken in agreement with the Spanish club’s medical staff so that he can begin his rehabilitation there.

Konaté had started the season well with Real Madrid, making his withdrawal a significant change to the defensive plans for the new coach. The former Liverpool player joined the France camp as one of the established members of a squad otherwise marked by a strong influx of new faces. His injury also removes a player who had been scheduled to provide experience at the centre of a defence being reorganised at the start of a new coaching era.

Zidane has called up Leny Yoro as Konaté’s replacement. The 20-year-old Manchester United defender had been with France’s Under-21 team at the same national training centre. He only had to cross the Clairefontaine grounds to join the senior squad and is expected to travel with the group to Turkey. The move gives Yoro his first senior France call-up after he was initially selected for the Under-21s.

Yoro becomes the seventh uncapped player brought into this September gathering. Zidane had already selected goalkeeper Guillaume Restes of Toulouse, defenders Jérémy Jacquet of Liverpool and Andy Diouf of Inter Milan, midfielder Lucas Da Cunha of Como and forward Esteban Lepaul of Rennes. Goalkeeper Jean Butez, also of Como, was subsequently added after Robin Risser became unavailable. Konaté’s injury has now created another opening in a 23-player group that has already undergone several changes.

The call-up offers Yoro a new stage after a mixed period since his move from Lille to Manchester United in the summer of 2024 for €62 million. A fractured ankle kept him out for four months during his first season in England. He then accumulated 33 appearances in all competitions in 2025-26, although manager Michael Carrick gradually moved him down the defensive order during the final part of the Premier League campaign.

Yoro’s status has remained similar at the beginning of the current season. He started Manchester United’s Champions League match against Sabah, which ended in a 4-0 victory, but has mainly made short appearances in the league. His first senior France selection therefore arrives while he is competing for a regular club role, and it comes with an immediate international assignment against Turkey rather than a prolonged introduction to the squad.

France’s Nations League programme continues with another away match in Italy on 12 November at San Siro, followed by a home fixture against Turkey on 15 November at Bordeaux’s Stade Atlantique. The first four matches will take place without Konaté, while Zidane must also manage an incomplete backroom structure. Mohamed Sanhadji, the France team’s security officer, has been placed under investigation and has not been replaced. Team manager Laurent Georges is currently handling responsibilities including police escorts, security agents and contacts with local authorities during the team’s international travel.