Olympics or not Olympics, that is the question for Kylian Mbappé. For several weeks, it has been difficult to know if the captain of the France team will be part of Thierry Henry’s team in Paris this summer, even if he has announced that he wants to. This Thursday morning, the newspaper L’Équipe clarified that the striker’s participation in the biggest sporting event on the planet was moving away, with Didier Deschamps preferring that he be focused entirely on the Euro.
Asked about this at a press conference, a few minutes after the announcement of his list for the friendly matches in March, the Blues coach returned to this issue, ensuring that it was not him who decided.
“If Thierry (Henry, Bleuets coach) decides to take a player and his club agrees, he will be in his team. The common objective of the federation, Thierry and myself is to have the best possible team. Let’s not forget what happened at the last Olympics, the situation in which Sylvain Ripoll found himself (the Frenchman was unable to benefit from certain players, the clubs not having released them). And it was the fault of the French clubs. With the Olympic Games in France, French clubs will be made aware. The foreign clubs will go over their heads. »
A speech shared by Thierry Henry himself, a few minutes later. “We don’t have the cards in hand,” underlined the former Arsenal player. These are not FIFA dates and teams will need their players at the start of the season. Are the teams abroad there to think of us and the Olympics? No, they think about their team and their players so it will be their decision. We discuss but they will make their decision. »
Referring to the cases of Olivier Giroud, Antoine Griezmann and Kylian Mbappé, Didier Deschamps admitted that the combination of Euro 2024 and the Olympic Games seemed delicate to him. “It is very difficult, on a psychological and physical level, to string together two competitions like that in one summer, with a championship which will start behind. But the goal remains the same: to have the best possible team. I wish Titi a lot of courage. »The saga is therefore not over, and the door is not completely closed for Kylian Mbappé.
