The 26-year-old midfielder was unable to finish Tuesday’s session at Clairefontaine and is on his way back to the Spanish capital for scans, the French Football Federation (FFF) announced on Tuesday night.
Tchouaméni felt a sharp pain in his right adductor during training, and after consultation between the FFF’s medical staff and Real Madrid’s doctors it was agreed he would play no further part in the camp, according to RMC Sport. France will not call up a direct replacement.
Same muscle, same problem
It is the same injury area that kept Tchouaméni out of the opening phase of Real Madrid’s current season following a lengthy layoff, and his withdrawal makes this his second absence from a France camp under Zinédine Zidane. Get French Football News notes that he had already missed the previous international break for fitness work and has yet to play for Les Bleus in the Zidane era.
Zidane, who took charge of Les Bleus in July after being appointed by the FFF to succeed Didier Deschamps, now has one senior holding midfielder fewer for a Nations League double-header against Italy and Turkey.
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Bournemouth’s Eli Junior Kroupi earned a first senior call-up after Marcus Thuram also withdrew, while Pablo Pagis was added to bolster the attacking options.
An awkward fortnight for Mourinho
For José Mourinho the timing is poor. Tchouaméni has been a fixture in his starting midfield, and Real Madrid face a dense fixture list once the international window closes.
A visit from Celta Vigo in La Liga on Saturday 21 November is followed three days later by a Champions League home tie with PSV Eindhoven, with Alavés and Real Sociedad to come inside the following ten days.
No prognosis has been published. Real Madrid’s medical department will set one after the scans in Valdebebas, and the length of the layoff will be shaped by whether the issue is a fresh strain or an aggravation of the problem he had been managing before the camp.
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Tchouaméni is scheduled to report back to the club on Wednesday.
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