While the Blues have just met at Insep for the traditional medical tests – they took up residence there on Tuesday – a cloud is already hanging over the Tokyo Olympic campaign. The presence of Asvel playmaker Thomas Heurtel (14.7 points, 6.3 assists, elected in the major five of Jeep Elite), who was to make his return after missing the 2019 World Cup, injured in a knee, is compromised.
Several sources have confirmed to us the information released Wednesday evening by the BeBasket site. A problem arose during the medical examination of the 2013 European champion with the Blues (1.89 m, 32 years old, 77 selections), which would have detected a small physical glitch.
” Nothing serious “, underlined several people familiar with the matter. This seems to confirm the player’s participation in the quarter-final of Jeep Elite Villeurbanne against Le Mans, less than three days ago, Monday evening (97-79 victory, 7 points, 5 assists in 19 minutes for him). Except that this little nothing is enough to call into question a second Olympic adventure for the native of Béziers – he participated in the Rio Games in 2016.
Nothing happened Wednesday night
Late Wednesday night, nothing had been done yet, one way or the other. The possibility of a forfeit was not ruled out, as was the opportunity to manage the pain felt by the player before reinstating him during preparation.
By the time a decision is made, Heurtel has returned to Spain, where the ex-Barça has his home. He will spend part of his week in Madrid, with whom he signed up next season, with Real. We can therefore imagine that the follow-up to this story will be played out during discussions between the French Federation, the player’s camp and his future employer, who will establish his own medical diagnosis. Whatever happens, the staff of the Blues is already forced to reflect and examine his options, if he had to be replaced.
Knowing that the group of reservists -Mathias Lessort, Isaïa Cordinier, Axel Toupane, William Howard- has no playmaker, Vincent Collet could decide to try to recall a player on post one. Or he will rely on the tandem Andrew Albicy – Frank Ntilikina, renewed after the bronze medal at the 2019 World Cup in China, counting on the support of Nando De Colo, who has played in the position all season with Fenerbahçe .
.
