The crisis has been renewed between Paris Saint-Germain and the French Football Federation, led by coach Didier Deschamps, regarding injuries to the team’s players.
The beginning was last September when Ousmane Dembélé and Desiree Douwe were injured during the match against Ukraine in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, despite warnings from the Parisian club’s medical staff that the players were exhausted.
Dembélé needed six weeks to recover, while Dowie spent four weeks away from the field.
This time, the dispute came over the team’s winger, Bradley Barkola, as the French Federation announced that he was excluded from the October list due to a chronic injury to the thigh muscle, and summoned veteran Florent Thauvin instead.
The statement indicated that the player was excluded after being examined by the team doctor, Frank Le Gal, at the Clairefontaine Center, before the matches between Azerbaijan and Iceland in the European qualifiers.
But Paris Saint-Germain responded sharply in an official statement on the “X” platform, stressing that what was stated in the French Federation’s statement does not match the reports of its doctors, and that its report sent before the national team’s camp did not indicate the presence of a chronic injury.
The club also stressed the need to respect medical confidentiality and not publish inaccurate information that may harm the player and the club.
