Kimpembe OUT for World Cup, Axel Disasi called up as replacement for France

Despite being initially named in Didier Deschamps’ World Cup squad, Presnel Kimpembe (27) has been withdrawn from the list and replaced by AS Monaco’s Axel Disasi (24).

France staff were at the Parc des Princes on Sunday to watch Paris Saint-Germain take on Auxerre. Whilst the official reason was not revealed, it was thought they were there to check on the fitness of Kimpembe, who had only played 59 minutes of football since 18th September prior to Sunday’s match.

The centre-back came on for the final 15 minutes of PSG’s 5-0 win, but in a tweet, the official France Twitter account has said that he has not sufficiently recovered from his injury, and will therefore not compete in the World Cup in Qatar. The decision was taken at Clairefontaine on Monday morning after a discussion between Kimpembe and the France squad doctor and then later a discussion between the player and Deschamps.

Disasi, who is yet to be capped for France, or even make a squad, has been called up to take his place. The Monaco centre-back made Deschamps’ provisional squad back in September but then failed to make the cut. His teammate Benoît Badiashile was called up instead, but then failed to make the World Cup squad.