Mvila a major doubt for France's Euro 2012 opener

DONETSK, Ukraine (AFP) –

France’s midfielder Yann Mvila at the Stade de France in St Denis in 2011. Mvila is unlikely to have recovered from an ankle injury in time for their opening Euro 2012 clash with England on Monday, the team doctor said Friday.

France’s highly-rated midfielder Yann Mvila is unlikely to have recovered from an ankle injury in time for their opening Euro 2012 clash with England on Monday, the team doctor said Friday.

The 21-year-old Rennes star – who is being courted by several big European clubs – injured his ankle in the warm-up match with Serbia on May 31 and while he has made speedy progress Fabrice Bryand said he wasn’t optimistic about his chances of being fit for Monday’s Group D game.

“Yann Mvila has a sprained ankle. We are trying to do our utmost to get him back as quickly as possible,” said Dr Bryand.

“His progress has been very quick, we are going to see if the swelling on his ankle goes down and we will see how he reacts to the treatment but I am not very optimistic for June 11.

“His progress has been spectacular but we don’t want to be too over confident.”

Should Mvila not be fit his likely replacement in the defensive midfielder role will be Marseille’s Alou Diarra, who has played in the last two warm-up games, the 2-0 win over Serbia and the 4-0 hammering of Estonia.