EURO 2012: Blanc names 12 foreign based players

French coach Laurent Blanc has begun his squad selection by first naming twelve foreign-based French players.

The selected twelve, based in England, Spain, Italy and Germany, will be joined next Tuesday by players based in France’s national division Ligue 1.

Alan Pardew’s Newcastle revolution has yielded two additions to the preliminary squad, Hatem Ben Arfa and Yohan Cabaye. Younes Kaboul is probably the biggest call from the former Bordeaux manager, alongside Arsenal centre half Laurent Koscielny.

Koscielny’s Arsenal team-mate Bacary Sagna will miss out on Euro 2012 however, after he suffered a broken leg on Saturday against Norwich. Sagna didn’t hesitate to point the finger after the poor challenge from Bradley Johnson resulted in his second broken leg of this season. "I think he did it on purpose," the 29-year-old right back explained to L'Equipe on Sunday.

"He stepped on my leg. Play continues, I get back on my feet. And when I tried to control the ball, I felt a crack, just like the first time at Tottenham. He stepped right where the plate was. I think the plate pressured [the bone]. It's a neat break, just above the plate."

Sagna was confident he would spring back from the injury for the second time this season. "That's how it is. It's football. It has happened to others before me," he added. "I came back once, I will come back a second time, even stronger."

FOREIGN BASED PLAYERS

Gael Clichy (Manchester City)

Patrice Evra (Manchester Utd)

Younes Kaboul (Tottenham)

Phillipe Mexes (AC Milan)

Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal)

Adil Rami (Valencia)

Yohan Cabaye (Newcastle Utd)

Florent Malouda (Chelsea)

Samir Nasri (Manchester City)

Hatem Ben Arfa (Newcastle Utd)

Karim Benzema (Real Madrid)

Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich)