Kylian Mbappé (25) has been edited out of a photo from Real Madrid’s latest promotion campaign. The Frenchman was absent from a picture published by the Spanish club earlier today for the launch of their ‘Artist Pack’ collection.
Madrid announced the clothing line as a means to provide visibility to their charity foundation’s sporting and social projects for vulnerable groups. The Frenchman’s absence from the photo likely would not have been noticed, had Jude Bellingham (21) posted an unedited version of the promotion on his Instagram (this picture has since been deleted).
Sports Zone have stated that Mbappé was removed from the campaign because Nike did not want his presence in an Adidas advert. However, Eduardo Camavinga (21) who is also a Nike athlete was pictured in Real Madrid’s campaign.
This story comes at an inopportune time for Mbappé who has found himself embroiled in an ongoing controversy. On Sunday, RMC Sport relayed information from Swedish media Aftonbladet, who had reported that police enquiry for a suspected rape at a hotel that the Frenchman had stayed at earlier this week had been opened.
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This report did not refer to Mbappé as the subject of the police’s investigation, unlike an article later that evening from Expressen. Mbappé’s entourage told AFP that they were unaware that he was the subject of any enquiry, while the Swedish prosecutor confirmed the enquiry but did not mention Mbappé.
Mbappé has responded to the RMC Sport piece declaring “FAKE NEWS” and insinuating that the timing of the story is suspicious and that his former club Paris Saint-Germain could have been trying to damage his image ahead of the hearing regarding their bitter wage dispute. PSG have blasted this implication, speaking via L’Équipe: “Honestly, it’s shameful. We’re going to ignore it and keep our class.”
