1998 World Cup winner concerned Mbappe's 'ego' could harm France this summer

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FT Desk

Still considered one of the greatest players in the world, there is negative press surrounding Kylian Mbappe at the moment.

The Frenchman has been in blistering goalscoring form for Real Madrid this season, with 41 goals in 41 games in all competitions for Los Blancos.

However, he is proving unpopular with the Madrid fans who believe he has an individualistic approach to life in the Spanish capital, focusing on his own game rather than overall contributions to the team.

There has been a petition created requesting that he be sold, while there is a website counting down the years, months, weeks, days, minutes and seconds until his contract with Madrid expires.

Various reports from Spain, including from MARCA, suggest that he only has positive relationships with fellow French players like Aurelien Tchouameni, Eduardo Camavinga and Ferland Mendy.

Emmanuel Petit, who scored in the final as France won the 1998 World Cup, is concerned that Mbappe's ego could harm the squad this summer as they look to win in 2026, and believes Didier Deschamps should start Balon d'Or winner Ousmane Dembele as the central striker with Mbappe asked to do a job on the left.

“Mbappe is playing up front as a striker. Dembele is playing up front as a striker," Petit began, speaking to The Sun.

"Ask Didier Deschamps, the French manager, ‘Who is going to play?’

“If I am Didier Deschamps, for me it’s very simple. Ask Kylian Mbappe to play on the left, the way he was brilliant for years with Paris Saint-Germain.

“Ask Dembele to play up front as a striker, and I ask [Michael] Olise to play as a right winger.

“If you do like that, I’m pretty sure France will win the World Cup. If you don’t do that and you want to go the same way that Madrid has been doing with Kylian Mbappe then you’re going to have trouble.

“Egos in the dressing room will come out, and the trouble will start in the team.”

France are one of the favourites to win the 2026 World Cup in North America and have been drawn in a group alongside Senegal, Iraq and Norway.

Mbappe is one of a few players in the France squad who have already won the tournament, having emerged victorious in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

It has already been confirmed that Deschamps will leave Les Bleus after the World Cup this summer and Zinedine Zidane is among the favourites to replace him.

Talk of egos within the France squad evokes memories of the famous implosion at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The team already disliked their eccentric manager, Raymond Domenech, but things turned toxic when striker Nicolas Anelka launched a profanity-laced tirade at him during half-time against Mexico. Anelka was sent home, and the squad revolted in solidarity.

In a bizarre protest, the players refused to train and hid on the team bus while a humiliated Domenech read their strike letter to the media. The "mutiny of Knysna" became a global embarrassment, leaving the team broken and distracted.

France finished dead last in their group, failing to win a single match. The fallout was massive: the players were branded national disgraces, the government launched an inquiry, and the ringleaders were handed lengthy bans.