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France coach Didier Deschamps has replaced Jeremy Mathieu with Valencia's Eliaquim Mangala despite insisting the Barcelona defender is "not finished" when he originally named him in the squad for October's World Cup qualifiers. "After an exchange with Mathieu, the coach has decided not to keep the Barcelona player in the squad for the next gathering of the France team," a brief statement from the French Football Federation confirmed on Friday. Mathieu missed out on the European Championship in his homeland this summer with a calf injury, while a hamstring problem meant he didn't form part of the squad for the games against Belarus and Italy earlier this month. However, after making two La Liga appearances for Barca in September, he was handed a recall by Deschamps, who defended his decision to call up the 32-year-old on Thursday. "Jeremy is not finished," Deschamps had said in explaining the reasoning behind his initial squad selection. "It's true in Barcelona he has a lot of competition [for his place], but in the games he's played he's been good. He forms part of the mix of youth and experience which we're after." Mathieu, who would have been the oldest player in Les Bleus' squad, was one of four central defenders -- along with Arsenal's Laurent Koscielny, Real Madrid's Raphael Varane and Athletic Bilbao's Aymeric Laporte -- to be called up. Barca teammate Samuel Umtiti, who took Mathieu's place at Euro 2016 and went on to start the final, is currently sidelined with a knee injury. However, Mangala, who joined Valencia on loan from Manchester City in August, will now take Mathieu's place in the squad. France host Bulgaria on Oct. 7 and travel to Netherlands three days later. Both games are qualification matches for the World Cup in Russia in 2018. Deschamps' side were held to a goalless draw in their opening qualifier against Belarus.
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