France boss Didier Deschamps is “afraid of offending” Kylian Mbappe and doesn’t care if he wins the Ballon d’Or, says Christophe Dugarry.

WHAT HAPPENED? Mbappe is in contention to pick up the 2023 Ballon d’Or, with the winner set to be announced in Paris on October 30, 2023. Deschamps has insisted that the Paris Saint-Germain striker deserves the award, despite Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland being the favourites after their stellar respective 2022-23 seasons. However, French World Cup winner Dugarry doesn’t expect Mbappe to claim top spot and has claimed that Deschamps feels the same way but won’t share his true feelings for fear of “offending” his star player.

WHAT THEY SAID: “It makes me laugh. You feel like it’s the ball of hypocrites. Journalists ask the question and you don’t know if they really mean it,” he told RMC Sport. “We ask Deschamps the question but I’m sure he doesn’t give a damn. He (Mbappé) is not scoring at the moment, he is not playing very well, but (Deschamps) is afraid of offending him so he is obliged to make a response. Don’t make a connection with me and don’t ‘fry’ me with Deschamps. I’m talking about all those who give their opinion, friends of friends, those who have an interest. There’s no real honesty in any of this. The Ballon d’Or, we don’t care, it doesn’t interest anyone.”

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Dugarry also expressed his belief that Haaland and Messi would both be deserving winners of the Ballon d’Or ahead of Mbappe. Messi inspired Argentina to the 2022 World Cup and Haaland won the treble in his first season at Manchester City, while Mbappe could only land the Ligue 1 title at PSG as they failed to make an impact in the Champions League once again.

“Today, to put my foot down, I would not give it to Mbappe, as strong as he is,” he added. “I would give it to someone who has won titles, it would be either Messi, but rather to Haaland.”

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WHAT NEXT FOR MBAPPE? The striker is due to return to action on Friday when France take on Netherlands in Euro 2024 qualifying.