Mbappé confesses: “I thought Vinícius Jr. would win the Ballon d’Or”
The French forward gave an interview to ‘Le Parisien’, in which he discussed the latest edition of the trophy, Griezmann’s departure from the French national team and the court case between the player and PSG
In an interview with Le Parisien , Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappé confessed that he was waiting for Vinícius Jr., his Real Madrid teammate , to win the last Ballon d’Or, which the Brazilian ended up losing to Rodri , a Spaniard from Manchester City .
The answer came after a question about Dembélé , who is currently in the best form of his career. But is he worthy of the Ballon d’Or? «What is a Ballon d’Or player? Do you consider Rodri a Ballon d’Or player? I thought the Ballon d’Or would go to Vinícius Jr., but in the end it went to Rodri . If I had told him this three months ago he would have said to me ‘what the hell are you saying? Today we don’t know who will win the Ballon d’Or, but no one should be excluded. Everyone should be able to be rewarded, even goalkeepers,” explained the Frenchman.
Nevertheless, Mbappé is pleased with his PSG compatriot’s performance : «Seeing him play like this moves me. I know how much he was criticised and ridiculed. I’ve been his main supporter since he was 14. I’ve always said he was one of the best in the world. Some people thought I said that because I really liked him. But I know the difference between friendship and reality on the pitch. Ousmane reached maturity at 27, that’s normal in football. He’s never been late, that’s normal development. And he has many years ahead of him. I’m very happy for him.»
In the same interview, Mbappé assured that he is not thinking about leaving the French national team and spoke about Griezmann ‘s departure . «I speak to him often, I really like his son, Amaro [ as well as the grandfather of the French and Portuguese international and former footballer ]. It’s true that it’s difficult, because we’re on rival teams in the same city. I can assure you that Antoine and I have a very good relationship. I spoke to him before the decision to leave the national team. He explained to me why and it is up to him to explain why he did it. I won’t say anything else, but it didn’t surprise me,” explained the Frenchman, who, given Deschamps’ departure after the 2026 World Cup , does not know whether it will be Zidane who will take the reins of Les Blues .
There was also room to talk about the dispute between Mbappé and PSG , which is in court due to the club’s alleged failure to pay 55 million euros to the forward. “It’s in the hands of the lawyers. I think it will be resolved quickly, it’s not something that worries me,” he concluded.
