Dimitri Payet and N'Golo Kante named in France Euro 2016 squad as Morgan Schneiderlin misses out

Professional Footballers Association (PFA) player of the year nominees Dimitri Payet and N'Golo Kante have been named in Didier Deschamps'c 23-man squad for the European Championship finals, which France will host, while Manchester United's Morgan Schneiderlin has missed out and has to be content with a place in the reserves list alongside Hatem Ben Arfa. Kinsley Coman has also got the nod after the youngster's impressive showing for Bayern Munich on loan from Juventus.

Olivier Giroud and Anthony Martial have also made the final list despite the former struggling for form in recent months. The Arsenal striker has scored just one goal in his last 19 appearances but despite that he has been selected ahead of Ben Arfa, who got 17 goals in 33 appearances for Nice this season.

The West Ham United and Leicester City duo have enjoyed successful spells with their clubs this season, with the latter playing a key role in the Foxes' run to a historic Premier League triumph, while the former has been instrumental in keeping the Hammers in contention for a place in Europe next season.

Karim Benzema was informed of his non-participation much earlier after he was charged for attempting to blackmail and participate in a criminal conspiracy in a sex-tape scandal involving international team-mate Mathieu Valbuena, who has also been omitted due to poor form during the ongoing campaign.

Mamadou Sakho has been omitted after the defender was suspended for failing a drugs test, as Deschamps has made it clear that he selected a team not based on individual performances but as a group, who can perform well as a team and make it into the latter stages of the competition.

"Hatem has had a great season but he's not the only one in that position. Giroud, that's 25 goals in all competitions this season, for Griezmann it's even more and Martial is on the same level," the France national team coach said, as quoted by the Guardian.

"My aim was not to pick the best 23 players but to go for a group capable of going very far in the tournament together," Deschamps explained.