Following the release of a video of Kurt Zouma abusing his cat on Monday, Didier Deschamps was interviewed on France 3 on Wednesday night.
The World Cup winning manager’s first response was to condemn the actions of his centre-back. “I was very surprised on Kurt’s part. It’s unacceptable, intolerable, cruelty without name. These images are shocking and intolerable.”
Les Bleus’ coach continued to discuss the potential implications on Zouma’s selection for the March friendlies: “I’m not a prosecutor, I’m here to make selections based on other criteria. It has happened that when players have made mistakes I leave them out for a while. I won’t change my way of progressing for the next list.”
Zouma (27), who has only managed 11 caps since his debut in 2015, was selected for the last round of World Cup qualifiers in November following the injury to Raphaël Varane and played all 90 minutes against Finland.
