All that for this ? Announcement effects, perfectly oiled communication on the part of all the actors, a deep desire to make an impression for the “higher interest of the country”… So many elements which will be swept aside if Kylian Mbappé is not participating in the Paris Olympics (July 26-August 11). Nothing is official, but L’Équipe announced this Thursday that the captain of the French team is moving a little further away from the global meeting every day, after having repeated his desire to participate for months. The reason ? Very simple, almost too predictable. Real Madrid, his future club barring a cataclysm, would not wish to release him. Nothing obliges the biggest club in the world, like all the others, to do so, since the Olympics are not included in the FIFA calendar. The employer decides. The players execute. The federations are silent.
If nothing is attributable to Kylian Mbappé, who is guided by the deep desire to follow the Euro (June 14-July 14) and the Olympics to mark history and defend the colors of his country, Real Madrid has not don’t have the same opinion and doesn’t want to get his future star back at the end of August after a long summer and off-beat vacations. A matter of principle. Silver. And sporting logic. Landing in Spain at this time, that is to say without summer preparation, with a La Liga and Champions League season which will resume quickly, Real Madrid has reasons to adopt this position. As Mbappé as he is, the native of Bondy will comply with this decision whatever happens.
Also readFootball: Mbappé deprived of the 2024 Olympics… by Real Madrid?
SEE ALSO – Manchester City: Erling Haaland discusses his future
“I have reached a stage in my life and my career where I no longer want to force things,” the main person whispered to GQ last January. If they let me do them, I will go with great pleasure but if it is not possible, I will understand. » Those most to blame, if Mbappé does not make the Olympics, are to be found on the side of the FFF. Even if the official discourse tends to place the blame on the club concerned, it would be a fiasco not to see the best French player in Paris this summer. Not to mention politicians like Emmanuel Macron and Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, who constantly push and communicate on the weight and image of the Parisian and future Madrilenian. In terms of image, message and sporting interest, it would be catastrophic. It is up to the thinking heads of the most powerful sports federation in France to try to reverse the trend…
“There is a sort of higher interest of the country which must predominate,” admitted President Philippe Diallo on RTL last September, well aware of the pathetic spectacle of the Blues during the Tokyo Olympics (team C, elimination in the first round). The whole world will be watching us. I want to do everything to have the best possible team. » Without Kylian Mbappé, this will no longer be the case. And the French federation will have to explain the absence of its icon.
Not to mention that nothing has yet been done for the other elements mentioned (Griezmann, Giroud, etc.), since the clubs will once again have the last word. In 2016, Neymar, star of FC Barcelona, was part of the adventure during Brazil’s gold medal in Rio. In 2024, the dream of seeing Kylian Mbappé do the same with the Blues continues to fade. And all of France could regret it.