This Sunday, Le Gym are back in Ligue 1 action away to Clermont on Matchday 14, with kick-off set for 17:00 CET. Before returning to competitive football, Christophe Galtier gave a case-by-case update on his squad, with certain players coming back while others miss out.

Kasper Dolberg“I’d once again like to thank Denmark’s head coach, with whom we worked in close collaboration. Kasper has worked hard, including on coming to terms with his diabetes problem. He needed a certain amount of time to accept it and, above all, to adapt his diet to the physical effort that he has to put in on a daily basis. He’s worked hard, and both he and the medical staff needed to know how to deal with that problem. They’re permanent adjustments. It’s all monitored by the medical staff, who are also in touch with French and Danish specialists, as Kasper wanted to be looked after by a Danish specialist, but he’s dealt with the problem well. He’s healthy, available, doing well mentally, smiling and showing a lot of fight in training, so he’ll be in the squad, and it’s very likely that he’ll start.”

The duo of Justin Kluivert and Calvin Stengs

“They’re fit to start. Justin hasn’t played for eight weeks, which is a long time. Calvin wasn’t out for that long, so he has more chances of starting. They’re players who are specialists in their position. Kluivert is a bit more versatile; he can play as a second striker, on the left or on the right. Stengs is a bit more specific to the right wing, but they’re both wingers. We were looking for that kind of player during the off-season. Unfortunately for them but also for the team, we haven’t been able to take full advantage of them. They’ve both suffered muscular problems in turn, each time in a different place. Was it the acclimatisation to the league, to the workload? There are several different lines of thought that you could have. They’re important signings; Calvin in terms of his investment, Justin in terms of his attributes. For the moment, the team hasn’t been able to take full advantage of them, as they’ve very often – too often – been absent. That should give them added value.”

Amine Gouiri

“Thank you to Sylvain Ripoll for taking on board the fact that Amine wasn’t in the right condition to go on international duty. By the way, congratulations to France’s U21s for their two wins. Amine had been playing with an injury for a while, but with other players out, we pushed our luck. He’s barely trained for the past eight or nine days [during the international break]. He’s recovered and done a few sessions this week, but we haven’t been able to work in all of the sessions.”

Melvin Bard 

“Melvin joined up with his national team, France’s U21s, but he picked up a knock, so the medical staff thought that it was best not to keep him in the squad, as his ankle was damaged. He also hasn’t trained for the last eight or nine days.”

Hicham Boudaoui 

“He’s suffering from sharp lower back pain. We’re treating it, but the treatment requires him to be out of action.”

Youcef Atal 

“He suffered a minor muscle injury against Montpellier. He’s already training again individually, and we’re hoping that next week, he can join up with the squad for team sessions.”

Bambu

“He’s undergone an ankle operation and will be unavailable until February. He suffered a sprained ankle, which we treated. He was doing well, but as the sessions went on, he started feeling a sharp pain. Having consulted various surgeons, the decision was taken to operate on his ankle with regards to a bone callus. It’s very technical. He’s had the operation, and everything’s fine.”

Evann Guessand 

“He’s gradually starting to train on the pitch again but isolated from the others due to his sprained ankle.”

TREATMENT

Hicham Boudaoui: lower back pain
Evann Guessand: sprained ankle
Bambu: ankle operation

RETurning from injury

Youcef Atal: hamstring injury

 

This medical update is sponsored by Purexpert

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