The British competition was tough, but we haven’t seen as many people bend the knee as before Kylian Mbappé in recent days. And not just anyone. On Wednesday, the French branch of KFC – official partner of the Blues – regretted on behalf of all the chickens of Kentucky the words of its vice-president, Alain Béral, with regard to the French striker. He railed the day before against the “whim” and the “crisis of youth” of little Napoleon on the question of the right to the image of the Blues, adding that the brand had “paid for something clear” and that it will assert its rights if necessary.
Remarks from which KFC immediately dissociated itself. “KFC France wishes to clarify that Alain Béral did not speak on behalf of the company, but in the context of a private conversation during an event related to his duties as President of the National Basketball League. Practical, the double cap.
Untouchable off the pitch, cornerstone on the inside
On Monday, Noël Le Graët had meanwhile been asked to tone down after asserting in the columns of The Team that the image rights agreement for the players of the France team would not move before the 2022 World Cup. What Mbappé counter-attacked with a: “Are you not happy? Boycott” of the Tuesday marketing operation. All with the support of a few executives from the blue locker room and especially Amélie Oudéa-Castéra. The Minister of Sports takes advantage of the arrival on Monday afternoon of the vice-president of the FFF, Philippe Diallo, to encourage the federation to review the convention which binds it to internationals. What she will undertake to do “as soon as possible” a handful of hours later.
No one wins against Kylian Mbappé anymore, except maybe Neymar. The Brazilian had resisted the bad mood of his teammate to plant a penalty against Montpellier (2nd day), a precedent that history will remember as the second opus of the penalty-gate. We will not forget that during the same match, Kyky had made a sausage by stopping dead in the middle of the counter: Vitinha had dared to prefer to direct Messi rather than launch his TGV in depth. The blower to the best summer recruit, already pampered by the Park, had not gone very well. The pedestal wobbles.
A tactical choice tenses Mbappé the week before the match. Christophe Galtier told him of his plan to play him on the right, so as not to interfere with the Neymar-Messi duo who had proven themselves in the previous match in the absence of the Frenchman. However, as revealed by the JDD, the world champion has obtained pledges on his positioning in attack, on the left or in the axis, at the time of extending with PSG. The player and his father get annoyed, Campos and Galtier drop the steak. In Lille, the tyrant plays in the axis.
The return of the annoying Kyky
The move is consistent with the policy of brushing in the direction of the hair started since the extension of the divine child. Especially since the Parisian club could not keep all its commitments on transfers: Neymar stayed, Lewandowski and Bernardo Silva did not come. Mbappé’s Football Manager project, supposed to lead him to victory in the Champions League, is slipping. Accessing the request for placement in the field was therefore a minimum. Just like the appointment of Luis Campos, whom the player and his clan have in esteem, or that of Julien Maynard, a journalist from Téléfoot close to the family, in the club’s communication. It remains to be seen whether pleasing KM9 is a viable sports project.
We recognize all the same a certain leniency in the attacker, who does not seem interested in the armband of Marquinhos and does not see himself as a big decision-maker. But good behavior stops there. The Brazilian site UOL esporte depicted, at the end of August, an “unbearable” Mbappé with the air of a “spoiled child” since his extension. An impression that seems more and more shared as the weeks go by. Even Achraf Hakimi, yet a brother in the locker room, takes it for his rank in unflattering images for the Frenchman. Not to mention the bad buzz of the team’s private jet trips, an incredible mistake for a boy whose speeches we had grown accustomed to.
Law of the series obliges, The Parisian revealed earlier this week that the names of Kylian Mbappé and his mother, Fayza Lamari, were cited from afar in the Hamraoui-Diallo affair. In barely a quarter, here is the image of the attacker again tarnished. Unthinkable in the spring: everything suggested that his 2021-22 season spent carrying Paris on his shoulders coupled with a miraculous extension would propel him permanently into hearts. For the moment, its hegemony is only a balance of power.