PSG’s French forward, Kylian Mbappé, gave an interview to the French magazine France Football, after being chosen the best French footballer of this last season. The footballer, in the eye of the hurricane due to his possible departure from the club, spoke about his and PSG’s present. “Reasons to believe that it is my last season in Ligue 1? It’s very simple, I’m a competitor, when I play, it’s to win. And it doesn’t matter who I play with, it doesn’t matter what shirt I wear, it doesn’t matter where I play, it doesn’t matter the year, I never settle, I just want to win, I will never be satisfied. I want to win the Champions League. I go on vacation, I do a reset, I recover energy and I return with the hunger that everyone knows”.
The interview was a good opportunity to rule out a PSG exit, but he again left that possibility up in the air: “I’m always dissatisfied, so I’m never impressed with what I do. It is already a first key to understanding myself because everything I do, I tell myself that I can do it again and better. I have this hunger to win. I don’t want to be on a team just to participate. That’s why sometimes people think I’m arrogant. Because I hate participating. It’s not in my nature, it’s not who I am, and I’m not afraid to say what I want, even when things don’t go my way. I’m not afraid of failure either, it’s part of a footballer’s career. But I have the deep conviction that I was born to win and I want to show it to everyone”.
Beyond clearing up doubts, he fed them by pointing out the club for the latest fiascos in the Champions League: “I don’t know what PSG needs to win the Champions League, it’s not a question for me. You have to talk to the people who make the team, who organize the squad, who build this club. I just try to do my job to the best of my ability. I was better player, top scorer for the fifth year in a row in Ligue 1. I could do better according to my critics. Sometimes in football you face what is called a glass ceiling. That’s why it’s not a big question for me, it’s for those above.”
“I have been scoring a lot for years. So for people, it becomes normal. I never complained that my performances were trivialized. And I myself trivialized what Messi did and what Cristiano Ronaldo did. We are in a consumer society, where what you have done is good, but do it again. I think playing for PSG doesn’t help much because it’s a team that divides. So of course it draws criticism but it doesn’t bother me because I know what I’m doing and how I’m doing it,” he said of the criticism he receives.
Lastly, Mbappé says he won’t rule out winning the Ballon d’Or, which accredits the best player on the planet. “The Ballon d’Or with the old rules, he would have told you that he couldn’t win it, but with the new ones he could. They ask you to choose the most impressive player, the one who had the most impact, the one who was the most decisive, the one who burned the retina the most. We’ll see, but I think I’m still a candidate, that’s the truth. Many things make me proud. First, having continued to win titles (Ligue 1) is what we play for”.
