How Mbappé put everyone back in his pocket (after months of yoyoing)

• A few hours before facing the English in the quarter-finals, Kylian Mbappé is undoubtedly the best player of this first part of the World Cup.

• In recent weeks, without his performance suffering, the player seemed to have seen his popularity rating drop after a few gestures of humor.

• Determined not to expose himself to the media to focus fully on the ground, the number 10 of the Blues has since put everyone in his pocket.

From our Special Envoy in Doha,

On one side a sewn mouth, on the other gaping mouths.

With a first part of the stratospheric World Cup on his part, and this despite not always breathtaking matches from A to Z, which suggests the butchery the day when that will be the case, Kylian Mbappé has (re) become the center of the world.

And from the foreign sports press which, the day after its pig match against Poland, no longer knew where to give superlatives.

In Spain, first, where his popularity rating took quite a blow in the tiles after his second almost blasphemous refusal to a kneeling Real Madrid.

"Mbappé comes from another galaxy", headlined AS, for example, on Monday, while in Italy, the Gazzetta dello Sport spoke of the "Martian" and his "two masterpieces to be exhibited in the Louvre, even at the risk to take soup from environmentalists”.

Across the Channel, the Guardian was pleased by headlining "You did well to take three right backs, Gareth [Southgate]", in anticipation of Saturday's quarter-final.

Flowers by backhoe loaders that the player must appreciate, he who has decided to wall himself in silence after months of media tumults where, let's say it, from his endless telenovela "PSG, Real, Real, PSG" through his leaks skilfully distilled by his clan showing a desire to leave Paris at the next transfer window, he did not do much to make himself friendly in the eyes of the general public.

Seen from abroad, whims that raise questions

As there is no flattering praise without freedom to blame, the boy has had his fair share of criticism, to the point of sowing trouble in the minds of the few clubs capable of aligning Liechtenstein's GDP to pay.

In

, the day after his big sausage, it was explained that Florentino Perez himself wondered if, any football monster that he was, such an ego did not risk blowing up the balance of his locker room.

And we are talking about a guy who had to manage the moods of Monsignor Crstiano Ronaldo for more than ten years!

Questioned on the fly Wednesday evening after the press conference of Konaté and Rabiot, two of our foreign colleagues validate this questioning.

"Seen from England, he gives the impression of being someone who is complicated to manage when you don't give him what he wants, someone who imposes his views and when things don't go his way he let you know in the worst way.

This may not be the case but it is in any case the image that emerges, explains Ben Fisher who follows the Blues for the

.

He also has this image of someone very focused on money, his contract, his advertising revenue.

It may be wrong but the English, and journalists in particular, are a little skeptical about him when we talk about off the pitch, we don't always manage to read his primary motivations.

»

An observation shared by Francisco Canepa of ESPN Sudamerica: "From an attitude point of view, he can sometimes give the impression of being arrogant, which can be detrimental to him and I think it has been. these last months.

I remember his gesture of humor at the start of the season when Vitinha did not pass the ball to him and he stopped playing altogether… As we do not know what PSG promised him to extend, and therefore what has or has not been respected by the club, for the general public it is difficult to understand and excuse this capricious, selfish attitude.

“Not to mention this little game that he seemed to play with Real and PSG for more than a year, sometimes giving his preference to the Casa Blanca he dreamed of at night as a kid, sometimes to the club of his city,

With, as a result, a decision going almost against the direction of the great story that should be his, even though the Parisian supporters had given him their blessing after the sinking of Santiago Bernabeu.

"I think there is something with Kylian that goes beyond football, beyond even the fact that he was given the keys to the PSG house, beyond the money he touches and that he could just as well have touched Real.

There is something bigger in this choice, something beyond us, reflects Franscisco Canepa.

The feeling of having to represent French football, of being the guarantor of the image of his country throughout the world, the benchmark player, almost political.

“If he may dream of being the successor of Emmanuel Macron by shaving in the morning, he is also very attentive to the image he sends back.

Because with the Mbappé phenomenon, we are no longer talking about a player but (already) an icon.

Not everyone can claim to be on the front page of Time.

“When Mbappé plays, everyone agrees”

So, aware of having been talked about too much for the wrong reasons lately, the boy and his clan have decided to close the media store as the World Cup approaches.

No more interviews, no more misplaced statements, nothing.

It is no coincidence that he has never appeared at a press conference since the start of the World Cup, unlike all these little comrades from the France team.

Well obliged to respect the protocol of FIFA – after having evaded it twice – which wants the player of the match to present himself in conf for three questions after the meetings, Mbappé explained last Sunday the reasons for the silence: “ I know there are a lot of questions about why I wasn't talking, he said after qualifying against Poland.

There is nothing personal.

I just need to focus on my competition.

And when I concentrate on something, I have to do it one hundred percent, not waste energy.

»

🐢 "¿MESSI o MBAPPÉ? A este nivel... 𝐍𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐘 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐎𝐑: 𝐌𝐛𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞́".

👉 @javibalboa85 alucina con el francés in #ChiringuitoMundial.

pic.twitter.com/wHTBy7oO2I

— El Chiringuito TV (@elchiringuitotv) December 4, 2022

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“Talking with your feet”, as Deschamps said that same evening, is the strategy of the kid from Bondy.

And what our colleagues tell us, it works.

Ben Fisher: “I think his image has been changing since the start of the World Cup.

He is so impressive, so dominating, he exudes such a feeling of power, of fear even in his adversaries, that he is gaining the respect of all those who have been able to criticize him.

“It's what we call in Argentina avoiding a 'permanent Boca-River', that is to say that the slightest thing you say can take on mind-blowing proportions.

The best option is to limit yourself to doing what you know how to do best: playing football.

And when Mbappé plays, everyone agrees.

“Smiles our colleague from ESPN.

Even in Spain where, a few months ago, he was promised tar and feathers if he even dared to put a toe in Madrid, the jackets now make a 360 direction Bernabeu.

Former Real player and famous consultant for Cadena Ser, Alvaro Benito has already forgiven him everything: “I don't hold grudges, you have to know how to be pragmatic (laughs)!

".

Basically, on the eve of this France-England quarter-final, there is only one incorrigible joker who still refuses to pull over from the cars.

We obviously want to talk about this devil of Tomas Ronsero, the famous Madrid consultant more mad than furious, who declared on

after the victory against Poland: "As a Madridista, I will not forgive him.

Thanks to Real Madrid he negotiated a huge contract, that he remains in his golden prison”.

Come on Tomas, a new double against the Three Lions and we bet our Cordobes that you will join the herd.

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• World Cup 2022

• Soccer

• Sport

• Kylian Mbappe

• France football team

• Paris-Saint-Germain (PSG)