French coach Didier Deschamps said on Thursday that he will reveal the names of the 23 players to play in the next European Championship in France on May 12, and it will then be known if Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, who is currently out of the team because of his legal situation, has been chosen.
“If I had to pick a squad today, I would do it. It would be very clear but it will maybe not be the same on May 12,” Deschamps told reporters at a Euro 2016 presentation in Paris, 100 days before the start of the competition.
The French team will train for the tournament at Clairefontaine in Paris starting on May 17.
Benzema, indicted for alleged complicity in a sex tape blackmail of Mathieu Valbuena, is no longer prohibited from playing matches with his teammate, but the French Football Federation, or FFF, does not consider him selectable while the case is still in progress.
“Today, Karim is unavailable. Mathieu is and always has been,” said the French coach two days after the president of the FFF, Noel Le Graet, announced that, for now, they cannot count on the Real Madrid striker.
