A tear, not a scare
Maxence Lacroix will not be with France in November. According to RMC Sport, the Chelsea centre-back suffered a hamstring tear in his left thigh during the League Cup tie against Liverpool on Wednesday, and tests have since confirmed it. Several weeks on the sidelines are expected.
That rules him out of Chelsea’s Premier League game against Manchester United on Saturday. It also takes him out of the next France window, where Zinedine Zidane’s side face Italy on November 12 and Turkey on November 15 in the Nations League. RMC says even a comeback before the end of the year is uncertain.
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Why it hurts both camps
Lacroix is 26 and has 11 caps. He arrived in the France set-up in March, played three games at the World Cup under Didier Deschamps this summer, then started three of Zidane’s first four matches in charge when several senior defenders were missing. He was not a stopgap. He was becoming a fixture.
At Chelsea the picture is the same. The club paid around 60 million euros to sign him from Crystal Palace in July, and Xabi Alonso has made him a cornerstone of the back line. Losing him for a month or more leaves Alonso short of the player he trusted most in that role.
For Zidane, the gap is a selection puzzle he did not want ahead of two games that will shape his Nations League campaign.
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