N'Golo Kanté Pulls Out of France Squad With Knee Injury After Missing Bolivia Friendly

N'Golo Kanté has pulled out of the France squad with a knee injury, the French Football Federation have confirmed.

Kanté sustained the injury in training for Chelsea just days before the Europa League final against Arsenal, which the Blues won 4-1.

He recovered in time to play in the final, lasting the full 90 minutes and was later called up to France's squad for their European Championship qualifiers against Turkey and Andorra on 8 June and 11 June.

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However, he did not play in France's friendly game against Bolivia on 2 June and since then he has been evaluated by their medical team.

The medical department decided Kanté could not play in either qualifier and he left the squad on Thursday evening.

The FFF said in a statement (as relayed by Goal): "After meeting with the medical staff following the evolution of right his knee injury, coach Didier Deschamps decided to release the international midfielder from Chelsea FC before leaving for Konya, Turkey, scheduled for Friday morning."

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He made his debut for France in March 2016 in a friendly against the Netherlands and has gone on to have an excellent international career.

Kanté was named in France's squad for Euro 2016 and helped Les Bleus reach the final of the tournament where they lost to Portugal.

Two years later he put in a string of excellent performances at the 2018 World Cup starting all seven games as France became world champions for the second time. He has won 38 caps for his country, scoring one goal.