PARIS: Dimitri Payet was left out of France’s 23-man World Cup squad on Thursday, a day after being injured during Olympique de Marseille’s Europa League final defeat by Atletico Madrid.

He has a thigh problem that will need at least three weeks to heal, a delay that prompted coach Didier Deschamps to omit the former West Ham player. Unveiling his squad on French TV, Deschamps said he had no choice but to leave out Payet.

“Without his injury he would have been a serious candidate for the 23-man list,” Deschamps said. “This is a muscular injury, with a risk of a relapse.”

Payet has been in impressive form with Marseille. He is the French league’s top playmaker this season with 13 assists, and claimed three goals and seven assists in the Europa League, starring in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.

Payet was one of France’s stars at Euro 2016, when they reached the final as hosts before losing to Portugal.

But he has also fallen victim to the number of attacking options available to Deschamps, who did call up Payet’s Marseille team-mate Florian Thauvin along with Lyon captain Nabil Fekir.

Most of the squad were expected to be selected. The biggest surprise came with the inclusion of Sevilla’s holding midfielder Steven Nzonzi, who was preferred to Paris Saint-Germain’s Adrien Rabiot.

The 29-year-old Nzonzi has just two caps.

“Steven has technical skills and an imposing height, he plays in the same fashion as N’golo Kante,” Deschamps said. “And Adrien’s performances with France are not at the same level as those he delivered with PSG this season.”

Elsewhere, Manchester City left-back Benjamin Mendy was called up despite having hardly featured for Pep Guardiola’s side since returning from a serious knee injury.

“It always seems impossible until it’s done”, wrote Mendy on Twitter.

Antoine Griezmann will lead the attack, fresh from scoring twice for Atletico in the Europa League final, but Alexandre Lacazette was omitted.

Arsenal striker Lacazette, who scored 14 goals in 32 Premier League appearances this season, features in a list of 11 players on stand-by should one of the 23 men selected by Deschamps get injured before the coach hands his list to FIFA on June 4, 10 days before the start of the tournament in Russia.

Manchester United’s Anthony Martial is also on stand-by as Deschamps preferred Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembele.

Key names such as goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba, Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud and young Paris St Germain star Kylian Mbappe all feature.

“I dreamed of participating in this World Cup like all the children who will watch this World Cup,” said the 19-year-old Mbappe. “But now it’s a reality and I will work during training to be the best performer possible to help the team.”

As expected, Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema is not in the squad after being snubbed since being involved in a sex tape-blackmail scandal in 2015.

“Players have repaid my faith and I put the group above everything,” Deschamps said.

Les Bleus, who take on Australia, Denmark and Peru in Group ‘C’, begin their training camp on May 23, with only Raphael Varane missing out on the start as he will play in the Champions League final for Real Madrid three days later.

The squad, without injured centre back Laurent Koscielny, lacks experience, with an average age of 26 and only nine players from the group who reached the Euro 2016 final.

Squad:

Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Tottenham), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Alphonse Areola (Paris Saint-Germain).

Defenders: Djibril Sidibe (Monaco), Benjamin Pavard (Stuttgart), Samuel Umtiti (Barcelona), Raphael Varane (Real Madrid), Presnel Kimpembe (Paris Saint-Germain), Adil Rami (Marseille), Benjamin Mendy (Manchester City), Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid).

Midfielders: Paul Pogba (Manchester United), Corentin Tolisso (Bayern Munich), Blaise Matuidi (Juventus), N’Golo Kante (Chelsea), Steven N’Zonzi (Sevilla).

Forwards: Antoine Griezmann (Atletico Madrid), Olivier Giroud (Chelsea), Kylian Mbappe (Paris Saint-Germain), Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona), Florian Thauvin (Marseille), Nabil Fekir (Lyon), Thomas Lemar (Monaco).

Reserves: Wissam Ben Yedder (Sevilla), Kingsley Coman (Bayern), Benoit Costil (Bordeaux), Mathieu Debuchy (Saint-Etienne), Lucas Digne (Barcelona), Alexandre Lacazette (Arsenal), Anthony Martial (Manchester United), Adrien Rabiot (PSG), Mamadou Sakho (Crystal Palace), Moussa Sissoko (Tottenham), Kurt Zouma (Stoke).

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2018