The Mbappe case is still ongoing. Months go by, and little by little, news keeps emerging about why Kylian has chosen to stay at Paris Saint-Germain rather than sign for Real Madrid
Emmanuel Macron’s role was vital in this sense and Mbappe recognized it again in an interview with Sports Illustrated. “We received several calls. In December, January, February, March…,” he admitted with a laugh, referring to the insistence of the French president
Macron called me and said: ‘I know you want to leave, but I want you to know that you are important to France and I don’t want you to leave. You have a chance to make history here. Everyone loves you
The Paris Saint-Germain star did not believe the head of state’s call: “I said I appreciated it. It really is crazy. The president calls you and asks you to stay
Think about stopping playing for France
Mbappe also spoke about winning the 2018 World Cup: “It changed my life. I was already famous before, but after the World Cup it was crazy. It took me a while to learn to keep calm
Soon, he hit rock bottom. The penalty he missed against Switzerland in the round of 16 at Euro 2020 sparked a wave of criticism against Mbappe, most of which was racist, which led him to consider giving up playing with France
I thought: ‘I can’t play for people who think I’m a monkey.’ I will not play anymore. Then I thought with the peopl around me and they encouraged me to keep going
There was another reason to continue with the “roosters team”: “This is a new F, and that’s why I didn’t quit. It was a good message for young people to say, ‘We are stronger than all of this,'” he explains
