France U23 boss Thierry Henry has said he is not surprised by Chelsea’s refusal to release Malo Gusto or Benoit Badiashile for France’s Olympics campaign this summer.
Henry has been faced multiple problems with his squad selection as several Premier League clubs have refused to release their players for the Olympics.
Chelsea permitted Lesley Ugochukwu to join the squad, but blocked Malo Gusto and Benoit Badiashile from joining France Olympics squad.
Olympics is not formally recognised by FIFA, so clubs are not obliged to release their players for the competition this summer – which Henry perfectly understands.
Henry said after unveiling his provisional squad: “You have to know that it’s not easy to find yourself in a situation where you have to go and ask a certain club for permission to be able to take their players when you actually can’t ask for anything since they are within their right not to send since it’s not a FIFA date.
“When it’s already a FIFA date it’s hard, so there you go, we’re trying to find ways to have certain players and believe me it’s not easy.”
Henry added: “As you can see, Chelsea just left me Ugochukwu, so there is Ugochukwu, that’s all.”
When asked why Chelsea have released Ugochukwu but not Gusto, Henry replied: “Ask them. I was told, ‘no’.
“I don’t know if you’ve ever been to speak to someone when you know that you can’t argue.
“You’re asking me questions but Chelsea are not me, so I asked questions about players, I was told, ‘no, it’s not possible, you can have Ugochukwu’, I know it’s not me who said that, that’s what happened, I can’t direct you on the why and how and I understand a little more the level of difficulty if a player ends up at the Euros because doing both is not easy.”
Asked if he is disappointed by the decisions made by Premier League clubs, Henry replied: “I will respond to this one very, very clearly – it’s not the time for me to talk about that, firstly.
“Secondly, am I disappointed or surprised? No. Neither disappointed or surprised, the clubs are within their rights, unfortunately, and I think what I have been saying hasn’t changed since I started taking about the Olympics. We knew very well that we were going to be confronted by this, you’re waiting for a response hoping but at a given moment if you give the possibility to a club they are within their rights to say, ‘no’. It becomes difficult, so am I disappointed, surprised? No, I expected it.”
France will kick off their Olympics group stage against the United States on July 24, before playing Guinea on July 27 and New Zealand on July 30.