Sam Vreeswijk12 Oct 2024, 16:55
Last updated: Oct 12, 2024, 5:10 PM
Kylian Mbappé has set his sights on the 2025 Ballon d’Or, reports the French newspaper Foot Market. To avoid the risk of injuries in his hunt for that prize, the star attacker actually only wants to play important international matches for the French national team.
France will play this international match for the Nations League against Israel and Belgium, but will have to make do without Mbappé. The absence of the 25-year-old attacker, who had withdrawn himself, has caused quite a stir.
First of all, because Mbappé was ‘just’ fit enough on behalf of Real Madrid last week to start against Villarreal. In addition, according to the Swedish Sportbladet on Thursday evening, when France finished the game with Israel in Budapest (1-4 win), spotted in Stockholm.
“The attacker is said to have been at the Chez Jolie restaurant in the evening and then drove away in a black minibus,” the sports magazine wrote. In that minibus he made his way to the entertainment area in the Swedish capital, where he allegedly entered the ‘V’ nightclub.
Foot Market However, it now reports that Mbappé’s absence from the French team has been known for some time. He would have already announced this in September, during the previous international match.
That decision may have to do with Mbappé’s mission to win the Ballon d’Or for the first time in his career next year. To achieve that, it doesn’t help to sustain an injury.
That is why Mbappé seems to want to give himself some rest every now and then in the overcrowded schedule. “Ideally he would only want to play important matches with the French team,” writes Foot Market about that. It remains to be seen to what extent this will actually happen.
