Tottenham Hotspur’s Hugo Lloris has admitted it’s ‘painful’ to see his France teammate Laurent Koscielny going through injury struggles after the defender spoke out on the subject.

Over the weekend, Koscielny talked about how painful it was to see his French teammates going to the World Cup without him. He revealed that he felt almost forgotten by most of them, saying that coach Didier Deschamps only called him on his birthday.

It wasn’t just the coach though, as the centre-back admitted that a lot of people at the club had disappointed him. He also confirmed he intends to stick to his original plan to retire after the World Cup, even though in the end he didn’t get to play at the tournament. As a result, he won’t play for France again.

Hugo Lloris spoke to the media about the quotes from the Arsenal defender.

“I don’t have all the facts in front of me regarding the calls and the messages,” the goalkeeper began (via Sport Witness). “What is certain is that we thought a lot about him during the competition.

“He was a very important person in the team. What he said yesterday, it’s painful to see him in that situation. He suffered, but he’s going to give himself some new challenges.”

Hopefully, that’s exactly what Koscielny will do. He may have retired from international duty, like his Arsenal teammate Mesut Özil did with Germany, but he still has a lot to fight for at club level.

This season, it’s about returning to the Champions League. Maybe picking up a trophy on the way, but the important thing is to get back in a position to attract top players and compete with the best European teams again.

Koscielny could certainly help to strengthen Arsenal at the back, so the sooner he’s fully fit, the better.