France boss Deschamps will not call Laporte just to stop Spain

France head coach Didier Deschamps insists he will not call up highly-rated Athletic Bilbao defender Aymeric Laporte just because Spain are reportedly chasing him.

The 21-year-old centre-back has represented Les Bleus at under-17, under-18, under-19 and under-21 levels but is yet to win a senior cap with a number of high-profile stoppers like Raphael Varane and Laurent Koscielny regular fixtures in the squad.

Deschamps again opted to leave Laporte out of his most recent squad for the games against Germany and England and did not call the Athletic star when Mamadou Sakho had to withdraw through injury, instead replacing the Liverpool defender with 30-year-old Loic Perrin of Saint-Etienne.

Recent reports have suggested Laporte is willing to represent Spain rather than France if it would guarantee him a spot at Euro 2016, but the former Juventus boss is holding firm.

Deschamps said: “Laporte? I have treated him the same as everybody else. I am not going to call up anybody simply because they are being courted by another country.

“The situation is similar to that of Giannelli Imbula and the same thing happened then.”

The case of Imbula saw the Porto midfielder apply to represent Belgium at senior level after playing for France in the youth ranks.

Spain have had success in seeing players change their allegiance to them before, with Diego Costa switching having already made two friendly appearances for Brazil.