Kylian Mbappé (25) finds himself at the centre of a storm. The France captain was left out of Les Bleus’ squad for the ongoing international break. It came after a thigh injury, which initially was supposed to rule him out of the entirety of the international break.
However, he recovered to face Lille OSC in the UEFA Champions League on the eve of Didier Deschamps’ squad announcement. Despite his recovery, Mbappé was absent from the squad, with the pretext being recovery from injury. However, that argument lost credit when he started in Real Madrid’s final game before the international break, against Villarreal.
Mbappé pictured in Sweden during France match
Playing down the controversy, both Deschamps and the FFF president Philippe Diallo have addressed Mbappé’s absence. Both have insisted that it was a decision taken after consultation with the former Paris Saint-Germain forward and with player welfare in mind.
Whilst that storm looked to be abating, it once again picked up in intensity when on Thursday night, at the same time as Les Bleus were facing Israel in the UEFA Nations League, Mbappé was pictured in Stockholm, Sweden. Swedish media Aftonbladet reported that he was at the restaurant Chez Jolie before going to a nightclub called ‘V’. This report was accompanied by photos of the Real Madrid forward wearing a mask and a hat.
Mbappé openly stated he didn’t want to play during current international break
Foot Mercato have now provided further details of Mbappé’s absence. As per the report, he has already warned, during the last international break in September, that he did not wish to take part in the current international break, which included matches against Israel and Belgium. He spoke about this openly and those within the France set-up were aware.
Deschamps said earlier this month that his captain “wasn’t in the best condition psychologically” during that break. He was notably booed by France fans after comments about not caring about fan discontent regarding Les Bleus’ unattractive, defensive play style.
Foot Mercato adds that Mbappé has made winning the Ballon d’Or in 2025 a priority and, in order to do so, he only wants to compete in “important” France matches, so as to avoid suffering an injury that would scupper that dream.
Recently, Mbappé’s absence has led to calls from some former France internationals to take the armband off the former PSG forward, whilst the Irresistibles Francais, the main supporter group of the national team, said it was “not normal” that Mbappé was absent, given his role as captain.
GFFN | Luke Entwistle
