KANTE BELIEVE IT
Furious Lampard blasts France boss Deschamps for risking injured Kante as he is ruled out of Newcastle clash
FRANK LAMPARD has hit out at France boss Didier Deschamps and his medics over the handling of crock N’Golo Kante.
Chelsea boss Lampard is without the World Cup winning midfielder for tomorrow’s Premier League game against Newcastle after Kante got injured during last week’s round of international games.
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Angry Lampard has questioned why France held onto one of his biggest stars instead of sending him back to England for rest and recovery.
Lampard said: “N'Golo's not fit, he had a small groin issue in the warm-up to the first international game for France.
“We didn't get him back until after the second game and he's not fit for Saturday.
“Before the international break, Didier Deschamps mentioned in jest a little bit about Olivier Giroud and that was obviously quite light-hearted and I get it, we all have our selection problems and he had his in the two games.
“But the Kante one was not a laughing matter. Let's think what benefits the player, he didn't go, we both agreed on that. That's how things should work.”
Kante got injured ahead of France’s first game - a 1-0 win over Iceland last Friday. But he did not report back until Tuesday, after the second game against Turkey.
Lampard said: “Our doctors were speaking and there were times when things weren't coming back to us when I would expect them to come back – that's what I mean about communication.
“After the first game when he pulled out, he then had a fitness test the day before the second game, it was clear that he couldn't play. He then sat on the bench on the evening of the game, so that's not communication, so it's not such a laughing matter I suppose.
“And it's more for Kante himself because he's not an inexperienced player, he's been around the block, he's won World Cups, he's been fantastic player. I think that probably could have been handled better for sure.
“We got a player back a bit later. I understand when players are on international duty, they are their player as such but it was quite clear he wasn't fit to play.
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“From our point of view we would have wanted him back to work on him but it's been and gone and as with every international player I will try and have open lines of communication with every manager for both our sakes.”
Kante has had knee, ankle and hamstring injuries and now a groin problem. He has started back-to-back games just once this season.
Lampard said: “We have to think about the long-term and the care of the player as well so that's sometimes a bit of a grey area."
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