Having announced his France squad for next month’s European Championships on Thursday’s on national television, Didier Deschamps faced the press immediately afterwards to justify his choices.

The head coach was inevitably asked about N’Golo Kanté’s surprise return to the national team, just under two years after his last appearance with Les Bleus – and having joined Saudi Arabia’s Al-Ittihad at the start of the campaign.

The former Chelsea man had missed out on playing at the 2022 World Cup with a hamstring injury, but Deschamps has ostensibly been impressed with the 33-year-old’s return – explaining that he has been following Kanté’s performances in the Middle East since August.

“He was last called up in June 2022, and what came afterwards was very difficult for him to take, given he missed out on the World Cup with an injury. Since then, though, he’s rediscovered his athletic and footballing abilities – in fact, he’s playing as we speak!”

“The situation was very clear in my mind – I wanted him to return to his best on the pitch, and in the meantime give some playing time to the younger players. I believe that the French national team is better with him, that’s why I made the decision.”

“We can have debates about the intensity of matches in Saudi Arabia, but he’s played over 4,000 minutes this season. That’s over 40 games. I have no doubts about strengths.”

Deschamps went on to add that his final decision on including the midfielder a week ago. Since making his debut back in 2016, Kanté has 53 France caps to his name – a tally he is now set to add to in Germany this summer.