France boss Deschamps will not call Laporte just to stop Spain

It has been suggested that Aymeric Laporte could
switch allegiance from France to Spain, but Didier
Deschamps is holding firm.

France head coach Didier Deschamps insists he will not call up
highly-rated Athletic Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte just
because Spain are reportedly chasing him.

The 21-year-old centre-back has represented Les Bleus at
under-17, under-18, under-19 and under-21 levels but is yet to
win a senior cap with a number of high-profile stoppers like
Raphael Varane and Laurent Koscielny regular fixtures in the
squad.

Deschamps again opted to leave Laporte out of his most recent
squad for the games against Germany and England and did not
call the Athletic star when Mamadou Sakho had to withdraw
through injury, instead replacing the Liverpool defender with 30-
year-old Loic Perrin of Saint-Etienne.

Recent reports have suggested Laporte is willing to represent
Spain rather than France if it would guarantee him a spot at Euro
2016, but the former Juventus boss is holding firm.

Deschamps said: "Laporte? I have treated him the same as
everybody else. I am not going to call up anybody simply
because they are being courted by another country.

"The situation is similar to that of Giannelli Imbula and the same
thing happened then."

The case of Imbula saw the Porto midfielder apply to represent
Belgium at senior level after playing for France in the youth
ranks.

Spain have had success in seeing players change their
allegiance to them before, with Diego Costa switching having
already made two friendly appearances for Brazil.