How Kylian Mbappé became a burden for the French team

Rewinding the story a few months earlier, you would have had to pinch yourself very hard to imagine that this Kylian Mbappé would deeply divide the French public one day. This same Kylian Mbappé who provoked intense emotions among French supporters in 2018, then in 2022, with an intoxicating hat-trick in the World Cup final. So often quick to light up the evenings of the Blues since his arrival in March 2017, the ex-Parisian is today plunged into total darkness. And it is not his latest controversies, which today punctuate the news of the French team, even when he is on a getaway to Stockholm, which should plead his case.

In fact, this year 2024 would have been better off never existing for Kylian Mbappé, even if his dream of joining Real Madrid would, once again, have had to be postponed. It’s not that the Frenchman has been doing everything backwards for a year, but almost… Quite ordinary against Germany and Chile in March, he wasn’t reassured either – and that’s a euphemism – during the Euro, a competition which has definitely never smiled on him in two participations, to the great regret of the French public. After a truncated end of the season at PSG and a missed meeting at the Euro, the 2018 world champion hoped to find a corner of blue sky in his new club Real Madrid, even if he remained well aware of the sharp turn that was waiting for him. A generally mixed start until his double against Betis, at the beginning of September, at the dawn of returning to the Blues…

An open divide with the public

We thought then that the Frenchman would arrive with a vengeful spirit at Clairefontaine, driven by the desire to remove the gray areas, and to redeem his conduct with the public. A big mistake. “ How will the Parc des Princes welcome me? I don’t expect much. I don’t carehe whispered in a press conference before the match against Italy, and to continue on the style of play of the Blues. I don’t know what the guys think, I’ve reached a point in my life and my career where I don’t notice anymore. I come, I play. What people think is the least of my worries“, he concluded. An outing in a disillusioned, tired tone, which had earned him a shower of criticism. His nondescript performance against Italy too.

Amorphous, the captain of the Blues had the right to a reframing from Mike Maignan, author of a virulent rant against certain behavior of stars after the defeat of the Blues. A new controversy unlikely to boost his popularity among the French. According to a survey carried out by Odoxa, for Winamax and RTL last month, only 54% of French people had a good opinion of the player, while 58% of them today judged him “likeable”, and 35% “humble”. This survey above all made it possible to measure more precisely the degree of incomprehension of the French regarding the awarding of the captain’s armband to Kylian Mbappé, to the detriment of Antoine Griezmann, retired since…

The wound of discord

This month, Mbappé had a new opportunity to redeem himself with the French, but apparently he wasn’t exactly keen on it either. At a press conference, Didier Deschamps justified his non-summoning by a desire to spare him, a few days after contracting a thigh injury. The following weekend, however, he was started by Carlo Ancelotti to face Villarreal in La Liga, and even played 70 minutes. In the eyes of many French supporters, this choice of Kylian Mbappé – who had clarified to his coach that he did not feel 100% and needed to rest during this break – was in some way considered a dereliction of duty exemplary, inherent to his role as captain, and above all reflected his desire to prioritize Real Madrid to the detriment of his selection.

Obviously, this decision did not leave the Irrésisitbles Français, the first group of supporters of the Blues, indifferent, while we learned a few days later from L’Equipe that the player had already tried to avoid the September gathering, but had finally encountered the refusal of Deschamps. “What stands out from this week, for us, is that the real captain has left, the one who was dubbed by the supporters, Antoine Griezmann. We wondered if the captain’s choice had been the right one, and with this episode, I don’t know. There is an error somewhere, even though we have just lost an exemplary model. Is this a communication problem? This is not normal as a captain.declared Fabien Bonnel, spokesperson for the group, to L’Equipe.

At the same time, the investigative journalist, Romain Molina, suggested that certain players on the France team had a disenchantment with Mbappé. For his part, Didier Deschamps tried to smother the fire in a video published by the FFF: “Kylian crystallizes a lot of things about him. This is not making a case of Kylian. We need to see this more generally. (…) The initial postulate is that the interests of the clubs and the interests of the national teams, I am not just talking about the French team, necessarily diverge at some point, and we must not forget either that the employer is the club, it is not the federation.” Until this new controversy, this Friday, the day after the victory of the France team without Kylian Mbappé. This morning, the Swedish media Aftonbladet dropped a bomb by revealing several photos of Mbappé in Sweden, in Stockholm, during the Blues’ meeting against Israel. Sighted having dinner at the restaurant «Chez Jolie“, the ex-Parisian then allegedly headed to a nightclub and a private room, at a time when he was supposed to be resting… When will the next controversy occur?