You can’t please everyone but fortunately in the case of Kylian Mbappé, that has never stopped him from piling up trophies and distinctions. One more was added to his list of achievements this Saturday, as he won for the fourth time in his career the title of “French player of the season” awarded by France Football, this one for the 2023-24 season. .
Elected by a jury made up of former winners of this prize, who each had to designate their top-3 of the season on the basis of a list of fifteen names established by the editorial staff of France Football, Mbappé came first with 56 points (the first in each top-3 is awarded 5 points, the second 3, the third 1), just ahead of William Saliba (51 pts). “We have to be fair,” the Real Madrid star reacted to the monthly. William Saliba, too, would have deserved this trophy. » Voting himself, Mbappé also placed the Arsenal defender in 1st position, just ahead of his two teammates Eduardo Camavinga and Aurélien Tchouaméni.
This is also the opinion of several illustrious voters, some of whom did not even include Kylian Mbappé in their selection. Karim Benzema, for example, chose Eduardo Camavinga first, followed by Bradley Barcola and William Saliba. For N’Golo Kanté, we found Saliba in 1, Koundé in 2 and Camavinga in 3.
Others did not consider that the Real striker was the most deserving, like Yoann Gourcuff (Griezmann, Maignan, Zaire-Emery), Patrick Vieira (Saliba, Tchouaméni, M. Thuram), Bernard Lama (Lacazette, Saliba , Lees-Melou), Laurent Blanc (Tchouaméni, M. Thuram, Lees-Melou) or Jean-Pierre Papin (Zaire-Emery, Olise, Lees-Melou). Choices which did not carry weight, since Mbappé came first in the ranking of eight of the twenty-seven voters, including David Ginola, Vincent Guérin or Lilian Thuram, and was cited by fourteen of them.
During the 2023-24 season, which he played with Paris Saint-Germain, Kylian Mbappé accumulated 44 goals and 10 assists in 48 matches, in addition to his 3 goals and 6 assists in 12 matches with the French team. Winner of Ligue 1, the Champions Trophy and the Coupe de France, he also reached the semi-final of the Champions League and the semi-final of Euro 2024.
Please note that Jean-Pierre Papin, 1991 Golden Ball winner and current coach of the Olympique de Marseille reserve team, has reserved his first choice for Parisian Warren Zaire-Emery, followed by Michael Olise and Pierre Lees-Melou.
