France head coach Didier Deschamps has explained why Paul Pogba and N'Golo Kante were left out of the squad for the upcoming international break.
The two-time World Cup winners will do battle against the Republic of Ireland and Germany in the next two weeks, but they will do so without two of their senior members.
Kante recently left Chelsea to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad, but Deschamps insists the midfielder remains eligible to be selected in the future.
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"He played again, he chained a few matches with a championship which, from the players who are there, is of a good level. He comes out of an almost blank year so NG is NG with the experience he has with us," Deschamps said, as per French Football Weekly.
"I felt that he needed to continue again and that the players who were there during his absence met my expectations. The possibility of offering these players to accumulate experience through the matches we are going to have is something important. But I repeat, NG remains selectable at any time, but on this meeting, I took the option of confirming the youngest who had already met the expectations of the very high level.
Pogba is fit after featuring for Juventus last week, but Deschamps feels he has not played enough minutes yet.
He was lucky enough to be able to play a good twenty minutes, it's the start of a road that is still necessarily long compared to last year which was white for him. You have to have patience," he added.
"I believe in him, in his ability to return to the top level, but it's not going to be done by snapping his fingers. His coach manages him with his club. If he finds his best level, he will again be an important candidate for the France team.
"But at present, and he knows it well, compared to what he has done in EDF, if I have to call him it is to have the same role, not to have the same reduced role. This is already a printer step. Paul still has others to overcome. "
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