France has suffered another injury blow ahead of the 2022 World Cup after goalkeeper Mike Maignan sustained a calf issue and will be out of action until January.

Maignan injured himself in training on Wednesday while preparing to make his AC Milan return after picking up the same knock on international duty last month.

The 27-year-old deputises Hugo Lloris for Les Bleus and was expected to be picked in Didier Deschamps’ squad heading to Qatar next month as defending world champions.

Milan coach Pioli confirmed to reporters that the keeper would miss the rest of 2022.

“We’re sad about the injury because he is a very important player for us, and above all because he had been trying his best to recover,” Pioli said ahead of Saturday’s home match with Monza.

“We tried to assess the situation as best we could. Mike pushed to play as soon as possible.”

France will also miss N’Golo Kante, who suffered a reaction to an existing hamstring injury and Boubacar Kamara (knee ligament injury).

Lucas Digne (ankle injury), Lucas Hernandez (muscle tear), Paul Pogba (knee) and Presnel Kimpembe (hamstring injury) are racing against time to recover in time before the World Cup.

Les Bleus are in Group D and will face Australia in the opening match before playing Denmark and Tunisia.