PARIS, (PA Sports) - Tottenham defender Younes Kaboul will miss out on a place in France's Euro 2012 squad due to injury, coach Laurent Blanc has revealed.
Kaboul suffered a recurrence of an old knee problem in Sunday's Barclays Premier League win against Fulham and follows Arsenal defender Bacary Sagna - who suffered a broken leg against Norwich earlier this month - in being ruled out of Blanc's preliminary selection.
"He suffers from a quite serious knee injury. He is out of the Euros," Blanc told Eurosport in a live broadcast to announce his provisional 26-man squad for next month's tournament in Ukraine and Poland.
Other Premier League players did get the nod for a squad due to face England on June 11, with defenders Patrice Evra (Manchester United), Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal) and Gael Clichy (Manchester City), and midfielders Florent Malouda (Chelsea), Samir Nasri (Manchester City), Hatem Ben Arfa and Yohan Cabaye (both Newcastle) all included.
Montpellier defender Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa, who has been central to his side's surprise Ligue 1 title bid, has been rewarded with a maiden call-up, while there was also a slot for Marseille's Loic Remy despite the striker suffering a thigh injury at the weekend that is set to sideline him for three to four weeks.
"This is a pretty serious injury," Blanc said. "There is contact with the staff of the OM. Do we eliminate Loic today, or do we give ourselves a chance to him it back? We opted for the latter.
"We can follow the evolution of his injury. We will make a decision on May 28."
Blanc has to trim his squad to a final 23 by May 29, two days after a warm-up match against Iceland, while further friendlies are scheduled against Serbia on May 31 and Estonia on June 5. Sweden and co-hosts Ukraine are alongside France and England in Group D.
Provisional France squad for Euro 2012: Carrasso (Bordeaux), Lloris (Lyon), Mandanda (Marseille); Debuchy (Lille), Reveillere (Lyon), Clichy (Manchester City), Evra (Manchester United), Koscielny (Arsenal), Mexes (AC Milan), Rami (Valencia), Yanga-Mbiwa (Montpellier).
Diarra (Marseille), Gourcuff (Lyon), M'Vila (Rennes), Martin (Sochaux), Matuidi (Paris St Germain), Cabaye (Newcastle), Malouda (Chelsea), Nasri (Manchester City), Valbuena (Marseille), Ben Arfa (Newcastle), Ribery (Bayern Munich); Giroud (Montpellier), Benzema (Real Madrid), Remy (Marseille), Jeremy Menez (Paris St Germain).