Geoffrey Kondogbia, Inter Milan’s biggest signings in the summer, has been left out of the French squad for their upcoming friendly matches.
The highly rated, 22 year old Frenchman cost the club a reported 35 million Euros when he was snapped up during the summer transfer window. He is the third most expensive player bought by the club in its history, after Christian Vieri and Hernan Crespo.
The promising young defensive midfielder was, however, left out of the 23 man France squad for their friendlies against Armenia and Denmark by national coach Didier Deschamps.
Below par performances
a He’s in a complicated situation with his club,” said Deschamps about his decision to not include the youngster in the squad.
“He’s playing less, but he has a lot of potential and we’re following him. Right now I’ve made other choices. He doesn’t play enough, and when he’s come on his level of performance hasn’t been as good as possible. It’s a psychological problem.”
It seems that Inter coach Roberto Mancini’s loss of faith in Kondogbia after a string of poor performances is to be blamed for his ouster from the national team.
Just a blimp on the radar? .
a It’s not easy to make a difference in Spain, or in Monaco so I don’t doubt the quality of the player.” said Deschamps, perhaps indicating that this was a temporary setback in the career path of one of France’s most promising young players. His successful stints at Sevilla and AS Monaco notwithstanding, this should serve as a wake up call to Kondogbia to start living up to his price tag.
He had formed a potent partnership with fellow Frenchman and Serie A star, Paul Pogba, at France’s youth level teams, but has since seen a dip in form since then, appearing only 7 times for Inter and not finding the back of the net since arriving at the club.