“It’s okay, you’re already hot!” “As always, Didier Deschamps chambered at the moment to greet the first public speech of captain Kylian Mbappé. The striker was going up the steps of the auditorium of the Stade de France when the coach came down them at the time of this little comment slipped into his ear. Fifteen minutes earlier, the PSG star, in a tracksuit and sweatshirt from the France team, had barely run down them when he had launched a thunderous “Good evening” to his audience.
Concentrated, precise and as relaxed as during his last press conference – after PSG-Nantes (4-2) to celebrate his record number of goals in the amphitheater of the Parc des Princes -, the number 10 of the Blues once again strolled through the exercise, answering questions about his new status with passion, even managing to make us believe that he had no problem with Antoine Griezmann, “simply” vice-captain according to Didier Deschamps’ will.
Even if the World Cup in Qatar brought the points of view closer, the two tricolor attackers never had hooked atoms. “I spoke with Antoine because he was disappointed and that’s understandable, blows the former Monegasque. I told him that in his place I might have had the same reaction. He is perhaps the or one of the most important players under Didier Deschamps. He has experience in the France team that I do not have, he is esteemed by the whole group. We need him and his joie de vivre. We will live hand in hand, side by side. If he has something to say, I’ll sit down and listen. »
“I’m not going to transform”
So here is a man who was quick to take the measure of function by rounding off the corners. It’s been a good week so far, before a France-Netherlands who could continue to gild their CV as they come out of a World Cup that established him as the best striker in the world. (8 goals). Captain, he had dreamed of it for a long time, long before Hugo Lloris retired. “When the coach comes and asks you if you want to be captain, your mouth naturally says yes. It is above all a kif. »
It is now up to him to fulfill the role in his own way. He unrolls the roadmap that awaits him. A good captain, according to him, “is someone who is team-oriented, unifying, unifying, I want to take others in my wake”. “I’m not going to transform myself but I have a word that I listen to. You have to use it well, think about the collective. There should be no gap between my teammates and me. »
It’s time for harmony and there’s no question of setting this place on fire. “I don’t understand but I accept being judged without being inside. Players who have played with me know that my first obsession is to win. And I don’t win alone, but with the team. »
The world champion had prepared his speech, referring to a lexical field around the union which also tells the player he has become in the France team. Unhappy and isolated in 2021 during the botched Euro and completed against Switzerland with his missed shot on goal, he now enjoys the recognition of all (or almost) and a central role in French society. His word is expected like that of the Messiah now, which has nothing to do with his daily life at PSG. He thus promises that he will keep his freedom of tone, the one that allows him to bring his future ex-president, Noël Le Graët, to reason after his skid on Zidane. “Why would that change? he asks loudly. Later, when asked about his former manager, he will decide: “He is no longer part of the news for the France team. Indeed, that does not change.