the surprising results of the votes after the coronation of Kylian Mbappé!

“You have to be fair. He would have deserved it too”. Just voted best French player of the season by France FootballKylian Mbappé did not fail to salute the performances of his compatriot and runner-up, William Saliba. With 56 points, the new Real Madrid striker has, in fact, retained his crown by beating, by a short head, the 23-year-old French defender but the 52 goals of the former Parisian striker in 2023-2024 have finally tilts the scales in his favor. This Saturday, the daily The Team also returned to this new coronation by publishing the details of the votes. As a reminder, the best French player is chosen by a jury made up of the winners of the Étoile d'Or (1958-1964), the Number 1s (since 1965) and the editor-in-chief of France Football.

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Each juror designates, in order of merit over the season, and from a list of fifteen names established by the editorial staff, three French people playing in France or abroad. They are awarded 5, 3 and 1 point respectively. In this game, it was the former Monegasque who won. Yes, but there you have it, looking more closely at the choices made by the jury convened, some risk causing discussion. Thus, if Kylian Mbappé received the favors of Lilian Thuram, David Ginola, Marius Trésor, Vincent Guérin or even Vincent Garcia, editor-in-chief of France Football, the neo-Madrilenian was clearly not unanimous.

Benzema skips Mbappé, Griezmann prefers Lacazette

N'Golo Kanté thus awarded his 5 points to William Saliba and did not even include Mbappé in his top 3. A choice similar to that made by… Karim Benzema. In order, the current Al-Ittihad player rewarded Camavinga, Barcola and Saliba. For his part, Samir Nasri placed Mbappé in 2nd place, also favoring Saliba for the 5 points. Even more surprising, the top 3 drawn by Antoine Griezmann, 2016 winner. Indeed, the Atlético de Madrid player awarded his 5 points to… Alexandre Lacazette. Mbappé being only his second choice, just ahead of Brestois Romain Del Castillo.

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A hierarchy that may be surprising, especially after the captain's armband episode with the Blues and the hasty end of Grizou's adventure in the tricolor jersey. Decisions which, however, did not prevent KM9 from winning again, just ahead of Saliba. As a reminder, behind the two men, Mike Maignan completes the podium with 24 points. Finally, Mbappé's two teammates in Madrid, Eduardo Camavinga (17 pts) and Aurélien Tchouameni (16 pts) occupy 4th and 5th place respectively in this ranking.

The 2023-2024 ranking

1. Kylian Mbappé (Paris-SG), 56 points.
2. William Saliba (Arsenal), 51 pts.
3. Mike Maignan (AC Milan), 24 points.
4. Eduardo Camavinga (Real Madrid), 17 pts.
5. Aurélien Tchouaméni (Real Madrid), 16 pts.
6. Antoine Griezmann (Atlético de Madrid), Pierre Lees-Melou (Brest), 15 pts.
7. Warren Zaire-Emery (Paris-SG), 11 pts.
8. Bradley Barcola (Paris-SG), Alexandre Lacazette (Lyon), 10 pts.
9. Jules Koundé (FC Barcelona), Marcus Thuram (Inter Milan), 7 pts.
10. Michael Olise (Crystal Palace), 3 pts.
11. Romain Del Castillo (Brest), 1 pt.
12. Jean-Philippe Mateta (Crystal Palace), 0 pt.