This is a real first blow for the Blues.
N'Golo Kanté, who relapsed from his hamstring injury, will not participate in the World Cup in Qatar (November 20 - December 18).
This information reported by the team that we are able to confirm had begun to take shape in recent hours.
The words of Graham Potter, his coach at Chelsea, held this Friday at a press conference, were not reassuring.
“He has to see a specialist over the weekend.
This setback is not good news, said Graham Potter this Friday at a press conference.
But I can't say anything more at this moment (before the end of the weekend).
“According to our information, he has, in full agreement with Chelsea, consulted a specialist in London in recent hours who told him that the operation was inevitable.
Kanté will undergo this intervention next week and will not be back on the pitch until 2023.
Faced with a muscle problem in the hamstrings, the world champion midfielder seemed on the right track to be restored in time for the World Cup.
But a relapse that occurred a few days ago in training came to a complete halt to this momentum.
Yet at the start of the week, a slight optimism prevailed in his entourage.
Very cautious, the player still hoped to catch the World Cup car.
In the end, he will have been overtaken once again by a physique that has not stopped playing tricks on him for several seasons.
In addition to Kanté, a significant doubt persists as to the presence of Paul Pogba operated on his right knee in early September.
Even if on the side of the Turinese, the news would be quite reassuring.
The France team will enter the competition on Tuesday November 22 against Australia (8 p.m.), before facing Denmark (Saturday 26) then Tunisia (Wednesday 30).