William Saliba has been dealing with a back injury for ‘several weeks’ but is available to play for France, says manager Didier Deschamps.
The Arsenal defender played 50 games in all competitions this season, the third campaign on the spin he has hit the half century of appearances.
The 25-year-old was first picked by France in 2022 and has racked up 31 caps under Deschamps.
Saliba heads to the World Cup this summer as a starter for his country, but there were fears that his involvement was in doubt due to injury.
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After Arsenal were beaten on penalties by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final, reports emerged that Saliba’s ongoing back issue could see him miss the World Cup.
He was left out of a 2-1 friendly defeat to Ivory Coast on Thursday, which saw Dayot Upamecano and Ibrahima Konate start at the back.
Deschamps has since allayed serious injury fears, but says the problem continues and is being treated by the national team’s medical staff.
France take on Northern Ireland in a friendly on Monday, with the manager telling Telefoot: ‘All 26 players will be available for tomorrow’s match.
‘He [Saliba] is being looked after by the medical staff, and we are also managing him based on how he feels. But it’s something he’s had for several weeks and it hasn’t prevented him from playing every match with Arsenal, including that final for 120 minutes.’
The French squad is yet to fly out to America for the World Cup, with the friendly against Northern Ireland played in Lille on Monday night.
The 2022 runners-up get their campaign underway on Tuesday June 16 against Senegal, before Group I clashes with Iraq and Norway.
This summer’s World Cup will be Deschamps’ last tournament in charge of France as he prepares to bring a 14-year stint in the role to an end.
PSG superstar Ousmane Dembele told ESPN of the coach, who won the 2018 World Cup: ‘We know it’s the last competition for the coach. He’s a very high level who has a lot of results with the French team. We’re very happy to have him of course. We already played the World Cup with him.
‘That’s what we’re essentially focused on. His leaving isn’t really impacting our mentality in this tournament, we want to finish well with him by reaching the World Cup final. He’s a coach who has counted on each of these players in the French team. He sends us congratulations or motivates us after a match.
‘He’s very important to me personally in my career. We’ll try to do well with him as a coach because he deserves it.’