An appearance that was anything but spontaneous
After Brest-PSG (0-1), Ousmane Dembele stopped by Ligue 1+ to respond to Kylian Mbappe. “I was never the chosen one, I worked for it and got my reward in a fantastic year with Paris Saint-Germain,” the Paris forward said, echoing comments from his France team-mate, who had said he had “always been seen as the chosen one”.
According to RMC Sport, the remarks were reportedly prepared in advance with the club. The message passed to the broadcaster was said to be crystal clear: “He’ll come on air, but you have to ask him a question about the Ballon d’Or, otherwise he won’t come.” A scripted response, then, a little over a month before the verdict.
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Two interviews, two bids
The battle had already been played out in the press. On September 12, in France Football, Dembele defended his season: “This season, I’ve been better in the decisive moments, quite clearly. And that counts. That’s the first criterion, isn’t it?” His comments came the day after Mbappe had said nobody had been better than him last season.
Two Frenchmen, two clubs, PSG and Real Madrid, and one individual prize that has become the centre of everything. Dembele’s camp, it seems, also took a very dim view of some of the France captain’s comments.
Zidane inherits the mess
Mbappe is said to have been surprised by his friend’s public reply. He has no intention of dragging this through the media and would prefer to settle it face to face when the squad meets later this month.
But the problem goes beyond the two players. The tension is now said to be splitting the France dressing room, with two camps having formed. For Zinedine Zidane, barely in the job and already under pressure ahead of his first squad announcement, it is a hot potato landing on his desk far too early.
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