As even Real Madrid fans can attest, Kylian Mbappe is a superstar player who isn’t afraid to make controversial decisions to benefit his own career, regardless of what the outside world thinks about him.
That much has to be respected, and, on some level, it’s important for all players to have a bit of that mentality in them, because as football becomes more cold and corporate, players have to realize that nobody will take care of you except for YOU.
Mbappe has received particularly ridiculous criticism and pressure from his own country, whether that was at PSG or on the French national team. He’s been catching heat lately for not being as present for the national team for in-season friendly fixtures, even as, hypocritically, many of these same personalities in France are criticizing FIFA and UEFA for overworking players.
According to a report from Foot Mercato, Kylian Mbappe already told the French national team in a previous meeting that he did not intend on participating in the friendlies during the October slate of international matches.
Mbappe has told Les Bleus that he only intends to play in their most pivotal international fixtures, as his eyes are on winning with Real Madrid in his first season with the world’s biggest club – and on winning the first Ballon d’Or of his career in 2025.
As such, the 25-year-old forward wants to avoid any possibility of injury, especially when it comes at little benefit to him, Real Madrid, or even France. After all, these fixture are meaningless to a national team aiming to win Euros and World Cups; Mbappe himself already helped lead them to a Nations League anyway.
By the way, both Nations League fixtures this October were against Israel and Belgium. France just beat Israel 4-1, and Belgium, as evidenced by their display at Euro 2024, are no longer major tournament contenders.
Regardless of the opposition, the Nations League is a useless, glorified friendly that neither fans nor players respect at this stage. So why pretend anything else? It seems as though Mbappe is receiving criticism just because he is Mbappe and people love to target the biggest superstar in the world for taking a stand.
But these are the players who can – and should – take a stand in order for change to happen. If the biggest stars don’t want to risk injury playing meaningless games, then these games truly become meaningless and unjustifiable to the so-called marketing gurus who think athletes are gladiators meant to die at their feet for the purpose of generating revenue.
In that sense, Mbappe can only be praised, and it is important for the high-and-mighty finger-waggers of the French media to put aside their false national bravado to realize that Mbappe and any other superstar doing this is simply doing the smart thing.
Let’s face it. As much as I love football, I don’t even watch these Nations League matches, because they are inane and inhumane to the players. So great job, Kylian, and I hope more great players put their health first, too.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other major outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.