There had been much speculation about Kylian Mbappé’s state of health. The Frenchman has kept a low profile on the rumors – until now.
Kylian Mbappé had missed five games at Real Madrid, with knee problems putting the Frenchman out of action and prompting him to take a trip home to undergo further examinations. In the Whites’ two most recent games, against Manchester City (2-1) in the Champions League and in the Derbi madrileno against Atletico Madrid (3-2), he at least made it back into the substitute role.
In the meantime, rumors circulated in the Spanish and French media that the injury was much worse than Real had communicated – there was even speculation that Mbappé would miss the World Cup if he did not take an even longer break. The attacker had already had to take a break at the turn of the year due to knee problems and missed two games.
Mbappé is symptom-free
But that’s all water under the bridge. Mbappé explained on the sidelines of an insurance company event that he no longer has any complaints. “That’s behind me, I’ve stuck to a training plan to slowly get back into the game. I hope to be able to play during this international break and make a decisive contribution to success again.“
He went through the break due to his knee problems with ”a lot of frustration, anger and worry“, but a premature end to the season or even the World Cup was ”never an issue”. “At most, I had a partial tear, so I would have been out until April. There was never any discussion about the World Cup or the end of the season at Real Madrid.”
So his participation in the international trip was also out of the question. Instead, France traveled to the USA to face Brazil in Boston on Thursday and Colombia three days later in the Washington suburb of Landover. “He’s 100 percent physically fit. I have nothing against him leaving with Les Bleus,” said Real coach Alvaro Arbeloa. Meanwhile, France coach Didier Deschamps explained that the protocol had been “respected”: “I had regular discussions with Kylian. There was no obligation for him to be there, but for his part it was clear that he wanted to be with us as a player.” According to Mbappé himself, the US trip will “not be a vacation”, “we are going there to prepare for the World Cup”.
