Theo Hernandez AWOL on holiday rather than with France under-21 team

Atletico Madrid's Theo Hernandez will be summoned to the French Football Federation's (FFF) HQ in Paris to explain why he appears to have gone on holiday rather than link up with his country's under-21 team. 

Newly appointed U21 coach Sylvain Ripoll named Theo, 19, in his 22-man squad for this month's friendlies with Albania and Cameroon, but the left-back, who is reportedly set to move to Real Madrid in a €24 million move, did not show up at the team's training base outside Paris on Tuesday.

The Marseille-born defender, who has spent the season on loan at Alaves, had only previously played at U20 level for France, and has missed his first opportunity to take a step up with pictures circulating on social media and published by Spanish media appearing to show him on holiday in Marbella.

"I will make him come to the federation as soon as possible to explain to me exactly what happened," FFF president Noel Le Graet told L'Equipe. "Did he do it on purpose? Did the message telling him he had been called up reach him? Right now, it's disagreeable, but I prefer he explains himself directly to me before I decide anything at all."

Theo extended his Atletico contract through to 2021 last summer before being loaned to Alaves for the 2016-17 campaign, helping the club to an admirable ninth-place finish in La Liga and the Copa del Rey final, where they lost 3-1 to Barcelona with the left-back getting on the scoresheet.

"I called up 22 players, and Theo Hernandez is missing," Ripoll told reporters. "I haven't had an explanation for his absence for the moment. I just note he's not here. I note he's absent from a get-together to which he had been called up. He'll undoubtedly be summoned by the federation to provide an explanation."

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