Stupid depth: Lacazette and Martial omitted from France squad

Daniel Storey

Manchester United forward Anthony Martial and Arsenal striker Alexandre Lacazette have both been left out of France’s World Cup squad.

The Premier League pair were not in the 23-man group announced by coach Didier Deschamps on Thursday night.

Instead they were included on an 11-strong standby list for the tournament in Russia.

Les Bleus have a wealth of attacking options, with the likes of Antoine Griezmann, Kylian Mbappe, Ousmane Dembele and Chelsea’s Olivier Giroud named in the squad.

Marseille’s former West Ham midfielder Dimitri Payet was another big name to miss out.

He went off injured in Marseille’s Europa League final defeat to Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.

His team-mate Florian Thauvin, who has excelled in the south of France after an unhappy spell at Newcastle, is in the squad.

Giroud’s Chelsea team-mate N’Golo Kante has also been included, while Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris, Manchester City left-back Benjamin Mendy, who has spent the majority of the season out injured with a cruciate ligament rupture, and United midfielder Paul Pogba are the other England-based players in the party.

Bayern Munich’s Kingsley Coman had to be content with a place on the standby list, alongside the likes of Tottenham’s Moussa Sissoko, Crystal Palace’s Mamadou Sakho and Kurt Zouma, on loan at Stoke from Chelsea.

France have three warm-up games ahead of the World Cup – against the Republic of Ireland on May 28, Italy four days later and the United States on June 9.

They start their World Cup campaign against Australia on June 16, with Peru and Denmark the other teams in their group.