A few hours before the final of the Coupe de France between Nice and Nantes, Noël Le Graët spoke this Saturday in L’Équipe to come back to Kylian Mbappé’s refusal to participate in a shoot for the commercial partners of the Blues and on the possible succession of coach Didier Deschamps at the head of the selection.
Asked about Kylian Mbappé’s non-participation in commercial operations, the president of the FFF replied firmly. “If he doesn’t accept the operation, he won’t have any money, that’s all. The players have 30% of what Fifa gives. Lloris is a respectable man. Varane, too, told me: President, we don’t want to change. Perfect equality. We’re not talking about money. I’m going to meet his lawyer soon to discuss. For his lawyer, the contracts with the players were supposedly obsolete. It’s not true. But, I repeat, what reassures me is the general attitude of the players. And Kylian, frankly, I don’t play fake ass, I really like him. I think he respects the Fed. Football is not an individual sport. »
The future of Deschamps
The president of the FFF then spoke about the Blues and the future of Didier Deschamps who will be out of contract after the World Cup in Qatar (from November 21 to December 18). There is still no question of extension before the start of the competition in which the French team is the title holder.
“Didier doesn’t need that. We will see each other at the end of the competition if he still wants to continue. We will spend the time that suits Guingamp, says Le Graët. When we saw each other after the Euro, things were very clear. We agreed a thousand times. He told me : I want to continue, unless you ask me to stop. On my honor, I never thought about him stopping. He only lost one match, you realize. And was hurt by the loss. »
The Zinedine Zidane hypothesis
The announced objective remains the last square of the World Cup. In case of failure, the president of the Federation has not yet made a decision. “We’ll talk later. There is the employee that he is. But he’s also a friend. I have a very courteous relationship with him. “Zinedine Zidane is often announced as the future coach of the Blues. On the subject, Noël Le Graët kicks in touch. “You see me saying today: It is Zidane who will replace Deschamps. We’ll see. Zidane might take on PSG. For the France team, you have to be free. »
“But today, we are going to do everything to put Didier in the best conditions to win this World Cup, he insists. I will never do what my predecessor did (Jean-Pierre Escalettes), who had already signed Laurent Blanc before going to South Africa for the 2010 World Cup. Domenech was already on his toes. How do you expect the players to respect him when the successor has already been designated? It doesn’t happen and I never will. Under no circumstances will I see another coach before having lunch with Didier. »