Neither PSG nor Real Madrid, France’s dream for Mbappé in 2024: the Olympic Games

Football is experiencing moments of shock. After Lionel Messi confirmed that his career will continue at Inter Miami in the United States Major League Soccer (MLS), Kylian Mbappé decided that he will not extend his contract with Paris Saint Germain (PSG) after June 2024 and his future is really unknown. While Real Madrid appears as the main candidate to hire him and the world’s powerful people open their wallets to see if they can get into the fight, in France they dream that from July 26 to August 11 next year the star will be at home, at the Olympic Games.

Philippe Diallo, ratified last Saturday as president of the French Football Federation (FFF), confirmed in an interview with the newspaper Le Monde that the intention is to be able to count on Mbappé in Paris 2024 and they are working to make it happen.

“Kylian wants to participate, be important and help us win at home,” said Diallo, who had been in office on an interim basis since January after the resignation of Noël Le Graët amid a series of scandals, including accusations of sexual harassment.

In the interview with Le Monde, Diallo said that “there is a kind of higher national interest that must prevail. The whole world will be watching us. We need to line up the best team, with Kylian as captain. He wants to leave his legacy and win a gold medal.”

The question that was opened at this time regarding the future of Mbappé could add a complication to France’s dream, because, beyond the player’s desire, the French Football Federation will have to negotiate its participation with the club that buys him. And, of course, it wouldn’t be the same to talk to a French PSG than to another institution that has it at the time the Olympic Games are held.

“We have to do a convincing job. We must make them see the importance of being able to have the best during those two weeks of competition. Until the end of the year, we have to address that issue,” Diallo acknowledged.

The Olympic Games in men’s football are for teams made up of players under 23 years of age, although there are three places for “older”, and one of those could be for the world champion in Russia 2018 and runner-up in Qatar 2022.

In an interview with the TF1 program, Mbappé referred to the possibility of being in Paris 2024 and not only did he confirm his desire, he also said that it was a topic that he discussed with PSG when renewing his contract (he has a clause to automatically extend it until 2025, which is the one he would not execute): “We talked about it in the negotiations. It’s a real opportunity. 100 years have passed since Paris 1924 and it’s one of the biggest sporting events.”

“Sport is about feelings and emotions. The opportunity to play in a competition like this, at home and in front of family, friends and with everyone watching you is something I cannot ignore. It’s been a dream since I was a child and I’ve always said that I want to participate. I hope to have the opportunity to do so,” said Kylian.

France became Olympic champion in Los Angeles 1984 by defeating Brazil 2-0 in the final and has failed to pass the group stage in Tokyo 2020. “In the previous Games we went under and I don’t want that to happen to us again. We haven’t been hosts for a century and we have to take advantage of the circumstances to make history,” said Diallo.

If present, Mbappé would seek to follow in the footsteps of figures such as Lionel Messi and Neymar, who were Olympic champions with Argentina and Brazil in Beijing 2008 and Rio 2016, respectively.