Didier Deschamps, France coach, accused Aymeric Laporte, a Manchester City defender who has opted for the Spanish team to the detriment of the French, of lying about an exchange of messages between the two.
“What bothers me is what he can say and that it is a lie. The only message I received from him is from the month of October for a precise situation about an injury he had had in September,” Deschamps said in an interview in the newspaper La Provence.
Laporte, who was born and raised in France, had declared that he had not received a response from the French coach when he sent him a message. The player, who lived for nearly a decade in Bilbao (Spain), first as an Athletic youth squad and later as a first-team footballer, was nationalized Spanish by a decree law last May. Last week, the Spanish coach, Luis Enrique Martínez, called him up for the Eurocup.
“He has that freedom. He has not played with us? It could have happened, ten seconds would have served. He has always been in the squad list, but there has been competition” for his position, Deschamps analyzed.
The former Athletic Bilbao player has played 24 games in various competitions with the lower categories of the ‘bleus’ and was selected three times by Deschamps, but none of the three ever played.
The France coach said he is not one of those who line up a player “to prevent him from having a second chance” with another national team. The last time was in August 2019 for the Eurocup qualification campaign, but the center-back was injured at the time and the call could not materialize.