Real Madrid blocks its players, and threatens the participation of Mbappé – Libération

The Madrid club informed the French Football Federation that it would not release its players for the Games. Which further complicates the situation for the French striker, expected to join the Spanish capital this summer.

Will Kylian Mbappé lead the attack for the French football team during the Paris 2024 Olympic Games? The matter becomes complicated. Real Madrid has informed several federations, including the FFF, that it will not release its players for the Olympics, which further compromises the participation of the French striker, strongly expected to join the Spanish club, we learned this Friday 15 March AFP from a source close to the matter, confirming information from L’Equipe.

“Real sent a letter to all the federations, including the FFF, to tell them that it would not release its players for the Olympics,” the source told AFP. This letter is very bad news for Kylian Mbappé, who announced to PSG leaders a few weeks ago his departure from the club at the end of the season and will sign, barring an exceptional turnaround, for Real Madrid this summer.

“Difficult to string together two competitions”

The captain of the French team had in fact made it known on several occasions that he would dream of competing in the Olympic Games in Paris by benefiting from the regulations authorizing each team to add three players beyond the 23-year-old limit to its squad. . But since the Olympics are not part of the FIFA dates, clubs are not obliged to release their players.

The Blues coach Didier Deschamps, questioned about the case of Mbappé, had already estimated on Thursday March 14 that it was “very difficult to string together two competitions” such as the Euro and the Olympic Games. “It is very difficult on a psychological and physical level to be able to string together two competitions like that, in the summer, without having had a vacation,” said the technician during the presentation of his list of 23 players for the friendly matches against Germany and Chile. The coach of the French Olympic team Thierry Henry explained for his part that the decision to call Mbappé for the Olympics or not was “in the hands of the club” of the player.