France can win World Cup but Kylian Mbappe could cause “trouble”, says 1998 winner
France can win the 2026 World Cup but Kylian Mbappe’s ego has the potential to cause “trouble” for Didier Deschamps’ side, according to Emmanuel Petit.
Mbappe is one of the best players in the world on his day, and has a great history at the World Cup, scoring for Les Bleus in their final victory in 2018, and even bagging a hat-trick as they lost on penalties to Argentina in 2022.
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Still, Petit has his concerns about how Mbappe fits into this France team, with the former Arsenal midfielder and World Cup winner with France back in 1998 making it clear he feels the Real Madrid star needs to play on the left.
Petit says he wants to see Mbappe out wide rather than up front, with Ousmane Dembele taking up that central role, and with Michael Olise on the right-hand side.
Kylian Mbappe could be an issue for France at the World Cup
Discussing how Mbappe could impact France’s World Cup hopes, Petit told the Sun: “Mbappe is playing up front as a striker. Dembele is playing up front as a striker. Ask Didier Deschamps, the French manager, ‘Who is going to play?’
“If I am Didier Deschamps, for me it’s very simple. Ask Kylian Mbappe to play on the left, the way he was brilliant for years with Paris Saint-Germain.
“Ask Dembele to play up front as a striker, and I ask Olise to play as a right winger.
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“If you do like that, I’m pretty sure France will win the World Cup. If you don’t do that and you want to go the same way that Madrid has been doing with Kylian Mbappe then you’re going to have trouble.
“Egos in the dressing room will come out, and the trouble will start in the team.”
Can France win third World Cup?
France have won the World Cup twice before, in 1998 and 2018, and they’ll be one of the favourites for this year’s tournament in North America.
France are in Group I with Senegal, Norway, and Iraq, and will hope to avoid a repeat of 2002 when they lost their opening group game against Senegal and ended up exiting the tournament early.
Mbappe could prove a difficult character for Deschamps to manage, and it will be an interesting situation to watch if this talented squad once again suffers from too many competing egos.
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