The handball player of the French team Elohim Prandi, injured by stab wounds on Friday, is “not available” for the Euro (January 13-30), coach Guillaume Gille confirmed on Sunday who could also have happened of his guardian Vincent Gérard, touched by a “family drama”.
“Considering what he has just gone through, of course Elohim (Prandi) is not available to play a Euro either physically, given his injuries, than mentally”, said during a videoconference Guillaume Gille.
Even if the left-back is out of danger, according to PSG, his club, an investigation has been opened on the count of attempted homicide and entrusted to the first district of the judicial police.
“The athlete takes a back seat,” added the boss of the Blues, who applies the same logic to the case of Vincent Gérard. The goalkeeper, decisive in the conquest of the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, could not participate in the first part of the preparation for the Euro due to a family tragedy.
His arrival was initially hoped for on Sunday for the resumption after the New Year’s cut, but his participation in the continental tournament is ultimately very uncertain, to listen to the coach.
16 trainable players
“It takes time to imagine if a door could potentially open,” said ‘Gino’. Discussions are still ongoing, nothing has been finalized. We know the quality of Vincent and his attachment to the France team, but we also respect the painful period he is going through. “
After two preparation matches against Egypt on Friday and Sunday in Créteil, the Blues will fly to Szeged in Hungary where they will start the Euro on January 13 with a match against Croatia.
This forces the coach to position himself quickly: “The discussion will necessarily be recorded in the coming days,” he confirmed.
The three other goalkeepers summoned, Kevin Bonnefoi (3 caps), Rémi Desbonnet (5 caps) and Wesley Pardin (22 sel.) Are much less experienced than Gérard and his 123 appearances in blue.
Guillaume Gille, who will not call other reinforcements, currently has sixteen players suitable for training. Four others, infected with Covid-19, including Nikola Karabatic, arrived Sunday at the Handball House where they train separately because the result of their PCR tests “indicates the end of the cycle of their infection”, according to the Federation .