France’s hopes of winning the European Championships have been a given a huge boost.
Mamadou Sakho’s 30-day suspension from Uefa after failing drugs test in the Europa League finishes this afternoon.
The centre-half was initially banned by Uefa after it was reported he had failed a standard drugs test in the wake of Liverpool’s Europa League success over Manchester United in March.
The defender was expected to be ruled out for anything between six months and two years after it was believed traces of a fat burner were found in his drug sample.
He faced a Uefa panel last week to discover his fate, but it seems the former PSG man may be exonerated of any wrongdoing.
This afternoon L’Equipe are reporting that the defender will not face any further sanction, as the fat burner he was found to have in his system is not actually on the Uefa banned list.
Liverpool moved to initially remove Sakho from first-team duties following the Uefa revelation, and he was then handed a 30-day ban in mid-April by the organisation as they carried out their own investigation.
If today’s reports prove to be true, Sakho could still play for France this summer, as Didier Deschamps can amend his France squad for the Euros until the end of the month.
https://twitter.com/TheKop/status/736542945151725568
This week France’s squad was disrupted with the news that Raphael Varane would miss the tournament due to injury, and Sakho’s return would be a huge boost to the host country.
If Sakho does avoid a ban, it will also be a massive boost to Jurgen Klopp and his defensive options as Liverpool were set to add at least one centre-half while they thought Sakho would suspended from playing any football.
