Ibrahima Konate has seen his hopes of becoming first-choice for France bolstered after Raphael Varane surprisingly announced his retirement from international football.
The Liverpool defender only made his senior debut for France last June, starting against Austria in the Nations League after being handed a late call-up after the Manchester United centre-back was forced to withdraw through injury.
To date, the 23-year-old has won seven international caps, winning five of them at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar as Les Bleus reached the final only to lose to Argentina. Konate started three times during the tournament, in place of the injured and ill Varane against Australia and Morocco, as well as in France's final group game against Tunisia, while he came on as a substitute against Denmark as well as against Argentina as his homeland lost on penalties in the final.
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Varane won 93 caps, scoring five goals during a nine-year international career, during which he won the 2018 World Cup and 2021 Nations League before losing last year's World Cup final.
The 29-year-old surprisingly confirmed his international retirement in a lengthy statement on Instagram, where he revealed he had been, "thinking about it for several months and decided that it was the right time."
Konate would share Varane's post on his own Instagram story with three accompanying heart emojis, one blue, one white, and one red to match the colours of the France flag.
And with so many of his international starts coming in Varane's absence, the Liverpool star is now well-placed to replace the Manchester United man and establish himself as a regular starter for Didier Deschamps. Fellow centre-backs Jules Kounde, William Saliba, Dayot Upamecano, Lucas Hernandez and Axel Disasi were also called up for the World Cup, with Presnel Kimpembe withdrawing through injury and new Chelsea signing Benoit Badiashile also being capped in the past 12 months.
Konate is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury which is set to keep him out for up to three weeks. It is not the first injury setback he has suffered this season, having been limited to just 10 appearances as a result. However, last season he made 29 appearances as he looked to cement his place as Virgil van Dijk's first-choice centre-back partner, starting alongside the Dutchman in the Champions League final in Paris, and played a starring role at the end of the season as Liverpool nearly won an unprecedented quadruple.
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