Karim Benzema is out of the World Cup after picking up an injury in France training, and two players linked with Wolves recently could now replace him.
The Real Madrid striker is perhaps the highest profile player to miss the tournament.
He suffered a thigh injury in training yesterday, which is serious enough to mean he can’t feature in the tournament.
The 2022 Ballon d’Or winner was among the favourites to win the Golden Boot.
It is a major blow for the 34-year-old, as Qatar was set to be only his second appearance at a World Cup finals. He’s only previously been to the 2014 tournament in Brazil.
In 2010 he was not called up by then-manager Raymond Domenech. And he didn’t play at the 2018 tournament due to his expulsion from the national team.
France must now replace Benzema, and a few options have been named by Spanish publication AS.
Among them are Wissam Ben Yedder and Martin Terrier, two players that have been linked with Wolves recently.
Wolves were supposedly tracking Ben Yedder closely during the last transfer window.
And then at the start of this month, it was claimed Wanderers were on the tail of Terrier. Many clubs across Europe were said to be showing an interest.
AS also say that Anthony Martial or Moussa Diaby could be called up by Didier Deschamps. The head coach has until 24 hours before France’s first game to name a replacement.
Wolves may get to undertake scouting mission on Ben Yedder or Terrier, following injury to Karim Benzema
So Benzema is out of the Word Cup.
It remains to be seen who Deschamps will turn to, but it would be good to see one of Ben Yedder or Terrier from a Wolves point of view.
Wanderers need to sign another forward in January, with Sasa Kalajdzic out for the season and Raul Jimenez having struggled with his fitness.
Both players have been in good form over in France. Ben Yedder has scored 10 goals so far, while Terrier has bagged 11.
Julen Lopetegui may already have a new list of targets heading into January. But perhaps if one of these two replace Benzema they’d be worth a little look at.
Note: Didier Deschamps has now stated he will not be calling up a replacement for Karim Benzema (via Goal).